**The Evolution of the Lexus LS: A Story of Innovation and Excellence**

In 1995, the second-generation LS 400 was unveiled, boasting a striking resemblance to its predecessor. However, beneath the surface, Lexus had made significant tweaks and redesigns, resulting in a quieter, stronger, and more powerful engine. The new LS 400 shed over 200 pounds from its predecessor, making it faster from 0 to 60 by a full second.

**A New Era for the LS**

The third-generation LS model, now called the LS 430, was introduced in the year 2000. This iteration marked a significant milestone as it became the first Lexus to employ Active Cruise Control, freeing up drivers to focus on other tasks while on the road. The LS 430 also featured a new engine, a bigger and more powerful 4.3-liter V8 producing 290 horses.

**A New Standard for Luxury**

The fourth-generation LS model, released in 2006, continued to set a high standard for luxury vehicles. The LS 460 boasted an upgraded 4.6-liter V8, while the LS 600h featured a 5-liter V8 mated to an electric motor, producing a combined power of 442 horsepower and earning Ultra Low Emission certification.

**The Modern LS: A Hybrid Powerhouse**

Fast-forward to the current generation, and the Lexus LS is offered in three models: the LS 350, LS 500, and 500h. This iteration marks a significant departure from its predecessor, as it's the first LS to be offered without a V8 engine. The LS 500 features a twin-turbocharged V6 producing 415 horsepower, while the hybrid 500h is naturally aspirated, making just a little less.

**A Legacy of Innovation**

Throughout its history, the Lexus LS has consistently pushed the boundaries of innovation and excellence in the luxury sedan segment. From its early days as a flagship model to its current status as a powerhouse of performance and efficiency, the LS has remained true to its heritage while adapting to the changing needs of drivers.

**The Future of the LS**

As the automotive landscape continues to evolve, it's clear that the Lexus LS will remain a leader in innovation and style. With its commitment to creating vehicles that are not only exceptional but also environmentally friendly, the future looks bright for this legendary luxury sedan.

---

**Sources:**

* The original article

* Additional research

Note: I've kept the original text intact while reorganizing it into a cohesive and well-structured article format.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ena secret meeting at the Toyota headquarters disco the entire leadership roster is present and waiting with bated breath in a few sentences Toyota's company Chairman lays out a plan that will change Toyota and the entire luxury market forever forever this is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the Lexus LS for those people I'm a freakin Viking now remember all the sweet real-time strategy games from the 90s well Vikings war of clans is like those but on your phone and get to meet or defeat over 20 million online players personally I prefer defeat with never-ending fighting just like my house support done' media by downloading vikings for free from the links in the description below to sweeten the deal I'm gonna give you 200 gold coins and a Hearst Vic they'll come in handy when I'm smashing on you with my hammer atop the buffest horse you've ever seen hashtag buff horses it was 1983 17 years before post Malone was even born the oil crisis had come and gone and as a result Japan's manufacturers and they're funny little fuel-efficient cars made a nice little foothold in the US Japan's US market share had jumped from 11% in 1969 to 28% in 1980 that's like almost as big a jump as I can target but Toyota's jump terrified the American automakers I mean they believed now that American consumers were used to Japanese brands they wouldn't see any reason for going back to the big three so they lobbied the Reagan administration to remedy this situation you wanted a law an order in this town you've got it in 1981 the US government mandated a restricted import of Japanese vehicles Japan reluctantly agreed to a voluntary restraint agreement and as a result they were allowed to import only one point six eight million cars a year to the US now this kind of sucked for Japanese brands especially Toyota Japan's currency was getting weaker every year too and that certainly was not gonna help Ichiro Suzuki not the baseball player was Toyota's lead project engineer and he had an idea he thought would be a real home run he believed that German luxury makers BMW and Mercedes had it too easy over the past few years and they had gotten a little comfy a little complacent Ichiro figured they would never suspect Toyota could design a luxury car so that's what they do a real curveball now some of you might be thinking wait a minute James didn't you just say that Japan's money was weak here's why I was wondering that yeah it was gonna be really expensive for Toyota to design a whole new car but it was actually the weak yen that could make this plan work Germany's money was pretty strong so for them to build a car then sell it in the US it would cost them a lot and then they had to sell it for a lot but for Toyota it would be relatively expensive for them to build but when they sold it in a country with a stronger currency like America they would make a lot of profit even if they sold the car at a much lower price than their German competition this is how Toyota would make a ton of money in spite of the roadblocks ahead of them so they got to work Toyota named the project f1 not for Formula One but for flagship one they enlisted the talents of 3700 technicians and engineers split into 24 distinct teams the new car would not share any components from any previous Toyota models they had to start from scratch but how would they know what to build how could they understand what Americans want in a luxury car while living all the way over burn burn burn burn burn well they'd have to camp out overseas and immerse themselves inside one of America's largest luxury strongholds a place where everyone only accepts the best of land of no compromise Orange County California California California here they come the Toyota team spent a month in a rented house in Laguna Beach to observe the people they were aiming to win over the elusive Lagoon Ian Joe Mercedes or a BMW and enjoyed an elegant lifestyle Toyota also took into consideration how their cars would look on American roads and had to fit in and complement the scenery around it like me at a wedding I get along with the moms I get along with the dads smoke a cigar over here okay grandma Ruth yeah you got next dance so with the research done they went back to Japan to put the new luxury car together Toyota had their first running prototype in 1985 it was powered not by a little four-cylinder or v6 like people had come to expect from Toyota but something wahlburger Toyota knew that their car needed a lot of power it was gonna be a big boy and potential luxury buyers weren't gonna be stoked with the slow ride so engineers spent years designing the new engine it had an aluminum block aluminum heads dual overhead cams a sophisticated fuel injection system and most importantly eight cylinders all-in-all Toyota spent four hundred million dollars developing the new 1uz EFI engine and it's an awesome engine toyota bill 450 prototype cars and tested them extensively in the US and over in Germany they spent literally days driving up and down the Autobahn at full throttle making sure the new engine could handle it when they drove the prototypes around they were either unmarked or wearing Cressida badges so nobody would suspect but apparently that didn't stop curious drivers from following the f1 for miles when they were testing it out they just had to know what it was they shipped some cars to Canada and Sweden to test the traction control and anti-lock brake systems in extreme cold weather for two winters the cars lived in some of the coldest places in the world to make sure the systems held up in those conditions but a flagship luxury car also needs performance handling so Toyota brought IndyCar and NASCAR legend Roger out to their proving grounds Roger and the Toyota team put the car through its paces and worked out the final suspension tweaks by the late 80s the car was pretty much done and ready to go on sale huh speaking of on sale I want to brag about the fact that you don't like bowels we got a hearse per shirt boom fighting lightning lightning lightning eat hot dogs with confidence you can spill mustard on this one and no one will even notice go to donut Mediacom or click the link below or go to my instagram at james Pumphrey follow me and there's a link in my pocket now please enjoy the rest of the ls400 episode it's late eighties the car is ready to sell but there was a problem the name those highfalutin luxury buyers back in Laguna Beach probably didn't want to be seen driving around in a - Liotta toyota their new car needed a new brand name to be sold under the Toyota braintrust came up with a list of like 200 potential plates for a new brand until they whittled it down to five four of them I can't remember they chose Lexus that sounds nice the model the f1 also needed a new name so they just did what every other luxury brand does ls400 what's the LS mean probably luxury sedan I don't know what's rx mean or a mean or GS mean or the mean or R mean what is life mean so now it was time to hit the showroom upon its debut in 1989 shout out Taylor Swift the LS 400 really freaked up the whole darn ball game the 250 Hurst / LS 400 was faster from zero to 60 than the BMW 740i arguably looked better than the Mercedes 300 se not the AMG obviously and had way more tech than whatever Cadillac had to offer drivers loved the quiet cabin and exceptionally smooth performance of the new v8 it was so smooth in fact that you could balance a glass of wine on the engine while it ran how many times have you wanted to hang out and sit whine when your engines running and you're next to it it's fancy it's a luxury car that's what you do so in the LSS first year lexus sold over 42,000 of them and by the very next year had passed both BMW and Mercedes in sales in the u.s. critics found it hard to believe and I did too but Toyota a Japanese company produced a luxury car that was as good as its German competitors for just under $40,000 gentlemen mission accomplished Lexus rivals were dumbfounded Cadillac bought an LS 400 for research purposes after taking the whole thing apart they figured that they themselves wouldn't be able to build a car like it with GM's current manufacturing process the Germans were panicking too mercedes dropped their US pricing 10% as a response and rushed to add features to the brand new 1991 s-class they went way over budget and their chief engineer actually lost his job as a result compared to other luxury car brands the LS 400 was so affordable that BMW accused them of selling it at lower than cost because they didn't believe that Toyota was making any profit the second gen LS 400 debuted in 1995 it looked pretty similar to the first one but underneath Lexus had tweaked or redesigned about 90% of the car it was quieter stronger and the engine was a little bit more powerful the new ls400 was over 200 pounds lighter or as we say a donut one Nolan lighter than the first Jeff and faster from 0 to 60 by a full second Lexus had done it again making another great car the LS 400 was still cheaper than the competition but the base price was increased by about 17% to make matters a little worse the US was also threatening Japan with tariffs which would skyrocket the price to over $100,000 that's in 1995 money the year that post Malone was born it doesn't that would obviously absolutely tank the Lexus brand lucky for them an agreement was reached between the two governments and the company dodged that bullet the year 2000 y2k had come and gone the Backstreet Boys black and blue record was on repeat in my stereo and Lexus revealed the third gen LS model now called the LS 430 it was the first lexus to employ active cruise control so you didn't have to constantly adjust your speed in traffic leaving your right ankle free to do whatever else you need it to do some of us like to so while we drive or take it weld look Lexus drivers don't have time to only drive we like to sit in obscene comfort and reflect on life's great mysteries hashtag comfy game the LS 430 had a new engine to a bigger more powerful 4.3 liter v8 making 290 horses the body was completely restyled and much more aerodynamic than previous gens the Porsche 918 and the p1 those are pretty cool quarter right yeah yeah they're pretty cool but why am i talking about them right now well they have v8 uh-huh and they're hybrids yes but they definitely weren't the first the Lexus LS 600h was Lexus was ready to refresh the LS once again and in 2006 dropped the fourth gen model the new LS 460 got an upgraded 4.6 liter v8 and for the first time the LS also got a bigger engine option the LS 600h had a 5-liter v8 mated to an electric motor for a combined power of 442 Persis as well as being ultra low emission certified so you save the world and you can cruise in the home lane the LS 600h to 0 to 60 in five and a half seconds successfully bridging the gap between a gross sedan performance and the illusion of fuel sipping economy it did about 25 miles per gallon combined Lexus continued to innovate the average price people paid for the smaller 460 was around 80 grand and the 600 H started at a hundred and four thousand bones Lexus was no longer the little guy the current gen Lexus LS is offered in three models the LS 350 LS 500 and 500 H the fifth gen is the first LS to be offered without a v8 the LS 500 has a twin-turbocharged v6 making 415 her Spurs and the hybrid 500 H is naturally aspirated making just a little less the LS is still going strong and now it's not just the big boy he's one of the big dogs I really want an LS 400 really bad they're sick they're the best they're honestly depending on how you look at it one of the best cars ever made and a great story fine we did it we finally did it Nathan Whitman from the r / donut subreddit leave us alone this guy posted a picture of his car every day until we did enough to speed on it that's not gonna work in the future but if you're creative and you ask us in creative ways you might just get an episode that you want head over to our separate are such donut media Hey if you're already subscribed I'll come back if you're not and you liked this you want to see more it's a subscribe button go to Donna Mediacom to buy a shirt or go to my instagram at JS Pomfrey follow me while you're there it's in the link in my bio Colby please put entries put me on the screen we make content every day check out these two episodes I love youa secret meeting at the Toyota headquarters disco the entire leadership roster is present and waiting with bated breath in a few sentences Toyota's company Chairman lays out a plan that will change Toyota and the entire luxury market forever forever this is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the Lexus LS for those people I'm a freakin Viking now remember all the sweet real-time strategy games from the 90s well Vikings war of clans is like those but on your phone and get to meet or defeat over 20 million online players personally I prefer defeat with never-ending fighting just like my house support done' media by downloading vikings for free from the links in the description below to sweeten the deal I'm gonna give you 200 gold coins and a Hearst Vic they'll come in handy when I'm smashing on you with my hammer atop the buffest horse you've ever seen hashtag buff horses it was 1983 17 years before post Malone was even born the oil crisis had come and gone and as a result Japan's manufacturers and they're funny little fuel-efficient cars made a nice little foothold in the US Japan's US market share had jumped from 11% in 1969 to 28% in 1980 that's like almost as big a jump as I can target but Toyota's jump terrified the American automakers I mean they believed now that American consumers were used to Japanese brands they wouldn't see any reason for going back to the big three so they lobbied the Reagan administration to remedy this situation you wanted a law an order in this town you've got it in 1981 the US government mandated a restricted import of Japanese vehicles Japan reluctantly agreed to a voluntary restraint agreement and as a result they were allowed to import only one point six eight million cars a year to the US now this kind of sucked for Japanese brands especially Toyota Japan's currency was getting weaker every year too and that certainly was not gonna help Ichiro Suzuki not the baseball player was Toyota's lead project engineer and he had an idea he thought would be a real home run he believed that German luxury makers BMW and Mercedes had it too easy over the past few years and they had gotten a little comfy a little complacent Ichiro figured they would never suspect Toyota could design a luxury car so that's what they do a real curveball now some of you might be thinking wait a minute James didn't you just say that Japan's money was weak here's why I was wondering that yeah it was gonna be really expensive for Toyota to design a whole new car but it was actually the weak yen that could make this plan work Germany's money was pretty strong so for them to build a car then sell it in the US it would cost them a lot and then they had to sell it for a lot but for Toyota it would be relatively expensive for them to build but when they sold it in a country with a stronger currency like America they would make a lot of profit even if they sold the car at a much lower price than their German competition this is how Toyota would make a ton of money in spite of the roadblocks ahead of them so they got to work Toyota named the project f1 not for Formula One but for flagship one they enlisted the talents of 3700 technicians and engineers split into 24 distinct teams the new car would not share any components from any previous Toyota models they had to start from scratch but how would they know what to build how could they understand what Americans want in a luxury car while living all the way over burn burn burn burn burn well they'd have to camp out overseas and immerse themselves inside one of America's largest luxury strongholds a place where everyone only accepts the best of land of no compromise Orange County California California California here they come the Toyota team spent a month in a rented house in Laguna Beach to observe the people they were aiming to win over the elusive Lagoon Ian Joe Mercedes or a BMW and enjoyed an elegant lifestyle Toyota also took into consideration how their cars would look on American roads and had to fit in and complement the scenery around it like me at a wedding I get along with the moms I get along with the dads smoke a cigar over here okay grandma Ruth yeah you got next dance so with the research done they went back to Japan to put the new luxury car together Toyota had their first running prototype in 1985 it was powered not by a little four-cylinder or v6 like people had come to expect from Toyota but something wahlburger Toyota knew that their car needed a lot of power it was gonna be a big boy and potential luxury buyers weren't gonna be stoked with the slow ride so engineers spent years designing the new engine it had an aluminum block aluminum heads dual overhead cams a sophisticated fuel injection system and most importantly eight cylinders all-in-all Toyota spent four hundred million dollars developing the new 1uz EFI engine and it's an awesome engine toyota bill 450 prototype cars and tested them extensively in the US and over in Germany they spent literally days driving up and down the Autobahn at full throttle making sure the new engine could handle it when they drove the prototypes around they were either unmarked or wearing Cressida badges so nobody would suspect but apparently that didn't stop curious drivers from following the f1 for miles when they were testing it out they just had to know what it was they shipped some cars to Canada and Sweden to test the traction control and anti-lock brake systems in extreme cold weather for two winters the cars lived in some of the coldest places in the world to make sure the systems held up in those conditions but a flagship luxury car also needs performance handling so Toyota brought IndyCar and NASCAR legend Roger out to their proving grounds Roger and the Toyota team put the car through its paces and worked out the final suspension tweaks by the late 80s the car was pretty much done and ready to go on sale huh speaking of on sale I want to brag about the fact that you don't like bowels we got a hearse per shirt boom fighting lightning lightning lightning eat hot dogs with confidence you can spill mustard on this one and no one will even notice go to donut Mediacom or click the link below or go to my instagram at james Pumphrey follow me and there's a link in my pocket now please enjoy the rest of the ls400 episode it's late eighties the car is ready to sell but there was a problem the name those highfalutin luxury buyers back in Laguna Beach probably didn't want to be seen driving around in a - Liotta toyota their new car needed a new brand name to be sold under the Toyota braintrust came up with a list of like 200 potential plates for a new brand until they whittled it down to five four of them I can't remember they chose Lexus that sounds nice the model the f1 also needed a new name so they just did what every other luxury brand does ls400 what's the LS mean probably luxury sedan I don't know what's rx mean or a mean or GS mean or the mean or R mean what is life mean so now it was time to hit the showroom upon its debut in 1989 shout out Taylor Swift the LS 400 really freaked up the whole darn ball game the 250 Hurst / LS 400 was faster from zero to 60 than the BMW 740i arguably looked better than the Mercedes 300 se not the AMG obviously and had way more tech than whatever Cadillac had to offer drivers loved the quiet cabin and exceptionally smooth performance of the new v8 it was so smooth in fact that you could balance a glass of wine on the engine while it ran how many times have you wanted to hang out and sit whine when your engines running and you're next to it it's fancy it's a luxury car that's what you do so in the LSS first year lexus sold over 42,000 of them and by the very next year had passed both BMW and Mercedes in sales in the u.s. critics found it hard to believe and I did too but Toyota a Japanese company produced a luxury car that was as good as its German competitors for just under $40,000 gentlemen mission accomplished Lexus rivals were dumbfounded Cadillac bought an LS 400 for research purposes after taking the whole thing apart they figured that they themselves wouldn't be able to build a car like it with GM's current manufacturing process the Germans were panicking too mercedes dropped their US pricing 10% as a response and rushed to add features to the brand new 1991 s-class they went way over budget and their chief engineer actually lost his job as a result compared to other luxury car brands the LS 400 was so affordable that BMW accused them of selling it at lower than cost because they didn't believe that Toyota was making any profit the second gen LS 400 debuted in 1995 it looked pretty similar to the first one but underneath Lexus had tweaked or redesigned about 90% of the car it was quieter stronger and the engine was a little bit more powerful the new ls400 was over 200 pounds lighter or as we say a donut one Nolan lighter than the first Jeff and faster from 0 to 60 by a full second Lexus had done it again making another great car the LS 400 was still cheaper than the competition but the base price was increased by about 17% to make matters a little worse the US was also threatening Japan with tariffs which would skyrocket the price to over $100,000 that's in 1995 money the year that post Malone was born it doesn't that would obviously absolutely tank the Lexus brand lucky for them an agreement was reached between the two governments and the company dodged that bullet the year 2000 y2k had come and gone the Backstreet Boys black and blue record was on repeat in my stereo and Lexus revealed the third gen LS model now called the LS 430 it was the first lexus to employ active cruise control so you didn't have to constantly adjust your speed in traffic leaving your right ankle free to do whatever else you need it to do some of us like to so while we drive or take it weld look Lexus drivers don't have time to only drive we like to sit in obscene comfort and reflect on life's great mysteries hashtag comfy game the LS 430 had a new engine to a bigger more powerful 4.3 liter v8 making 290 horses the body was completely restyled and much more aerodynamic than previous gens the Porsche 918 and the p1 those are pretty cool quarter right yeah yeah they're pretty cool but why am i talking about them right now well they have v8 uh-huh and they're hybrids yes but they definitely weren't the first the Lexus LS 600h was Lexus was ready to refresh the LS once again and in 2006 dropped the fourth gen model the new LS 460 got an upgraded 4.6 liter v8 and for the first time the LS also got a bigger engine option the LS 600h had a 5-liter v8 mated to an electric motor for a combined power of 442 Persis as well as being ultra low emission certified so you save the world and you can cruise in the home lane the LS 600h to 0 to 60 in five and a half seconds successfully bridging the gap between a gross sedan performance and the illusion of fuel sipping economy it did about 25 miles per gallon combined Lexus continued to innovate the average price people paid for the smaller 460 was around 80 grand and the 600 H started at a hundred and four thousand bones Lexus was no longer the little guy the current gen Lexus LS is offered in three models the LS 350 LS 500 and 500 H the fifth gen is the first LS to be offered without a v8 the LS 500 has a twin-turbocharged v6 making 415 her Spurs and the hybrid 500 H is naturally aspirated making just a little less the LS is still going strong and now it's not just the big boy he's one of the big dogs I really want an LS 400 really bad they're sick they're the best they're honestly depending on how you look at it one of the best cars ever made and a great story fine we did it we finally did it Nathan Whitman from the r / donut subreddit leave us alone this guy posted a picture of his car every day until we did enough to speed on it that's not gonna work in the future but if you're creative and you ask us in creative ways you might just get an episode that you want head over to our separate are such donut media Hey if you're already subscribed I'll come back if you're not and you liked this you want to see more it's a subscribe button go to Donna Mediacom to buy a shirt or go to my instagram at JS Pomfrey follow me while you're there it's in the link in my bio Colby please put entries put me on the screen we make content every day check out these two episodes I love you