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1-Page Summary of Relentless

Pedal to the Metal

Toyota took a huge risk when it decided to make the world’s best luxury car. It was a gamble that paid off, as the company excelled in performance, styling, comfort and value. Toyota made this decision because:

• To protect its reputation and keep its engineers stimulated.

• To keep up with the changing needs of Baby Boomers who had grown older and were looking for luxury brands. • Because competing European luxury carmakers weren’t paying attention to their customers’ desires.

Researching America’s Luxury Market

Toyota’s car building team went to America to research which luxury cars were most popular. They wanted to know the reasons why people bought them and what they looked like. The team also researched the width of streets, dealership service quality, valet parking services, and other details such as vegetation that could affect how a car looks. Focus groups revealed that some people buy luxury cars for status (like BMW) while others buy them for reliability and low maintenance (like Mercedes).

A marketing team conducted some research to find out who would be likely buyers of their new car model. They found that the target market was “bourgeois bohemians,” which is a name for people with more money and education than the average person, but not as much as rich yuppies. The researchers also learned that bourgeois bohemians were ambitious and creative, but still wanted to appear like they had money. They called these people “Bobos.” To learn about how people buy cars, the team hired anthropologists and psychologists. They learned from them that most car buyers are proud of their purchases and feel accomplished when they buy a new car. However, they don’t like going back to dealerships because it’s inconvenient due to traffic or long wait times at service centers; however, more interestingly is that many car owners dislike taking their cars in for repairs because it challenges their ego. Repairs make them feel incompetent about making such an expensive purchase decision initially.

The research showed that the buyers of luxury cars prioritized status, image and prestige. If Toyota wanted to sell luxury cars, it would have to compete on price because its vehicles lacked status symbol recognition. It also needed a new distribution system with trained service representatives who could deliver quality customer care.

Building from the Roadbed Up

While hundreds of engineers were involved in the development of this car, Ichiro Suzuki was a key player. He mentored the project and made sure it was perfect from conception to public acceptance. Because he demanded perfection, he didn’t tolerate those who disagreed with him or who weren’t as obsessed with getting everything right as he was. Eventually, Toyota had to reassign him off the project because his singular focus caused problems for other engineers on the team.

In the early 1980s, a group of engineers and designers worked together to build the best car possible. They did this by focusing on every detail and testing hundreds of models to find one that would be both fuel efficient and fast. The team also made sure that their prototype was aerodynamic, lightweight, quiet and had low drag. In October 1984, they unveiled their Lexus F1 model at an event in Tokyo’s Akasaka Prince Hotel.

The first step was designing the chassis. This involved a dispute between American and Japanese design teams for 16 months. The main choice was whether to make it sporty or taller with more prominent grilles and headlights. Eight full-sized clay models were made, but in June 1987, they finally picked one.