Where Are Lexus Cars Built And Who Makes Them?

The Lexus name, as enthusiasts will know, has been attached to some truly beautiful vehicles. The best-looking Lexus models ever run the gamut from the old-school cool of the SC to the sleek, stylish LFA, but the luxury brand frequently comes with a price tag to match — they will often be a bit rich for some drivers' blood.

As a result of this, the story of Lexus may be a bit of an unknown factor for many. It is, as we'll see, both its own entity and very much a part of its parent company, both a designer and manufacturer of its own vehicles and a marque that builds upon the work of said owner of the division. Toyota, after all, has created some of the longest-running and most popular vehicles of our time. 

If you're unfamiliar with the inner workings of Lexus, this look at the history of the luxury name, its connection with Toyota and the worldwide bases that make its vehicles will shed some important light on the matter.

The simple answer to the question of who manufactures Lexus vehicles is, well, Lexus. However, the crucial thing to consider is that there would be no Lexus without the marque's parent company, Japan's Toyota Motor Corporation. Lexus was created in 1989, growing from Toyota U.S. president Yukiyasu Togo's ambition to add a very special vehicle to Toyota's line-up: A luxury car with performance to match style, a niche that the company couldn't fill at the time. 

The Circle F (which stood for Flagship) project began as Toyota marked half a century in business. What came of the project? The LS 400, the very first Lexus model (a later model is pictured here). This vehicle arrived in 1989, first seen at that year's Detroit Auto Show, and had formidable specs among the sedans of the era: there was certainly no sneezing at 260 lb-ft of torque and a total of 250 horses. This was provided by its 1UZ-FE V8 Toyota engine. 

This flagship model was the result of an intensive development process indeed, with Toyota constructing around 450 prototype models over the course of refining performance, design, and other factors. Toyota's first Lexus, then, was a labor of love and a painstaking project, and the brand made clear from the very beginning that the Lexus family would be taken seriously. Lexus manufacturing, it would turn out, would grow to be an international endeavor.

With its inextricable connection to Toyota, it's to be expected that Lexus has its headquarters in Japan. As of August 2024, Lexus boasts a new headquarters on the outskirts of Toyota, a busy industrial city near Nagoya. This is, unsurprisingly, the city that Toyota Motor Corporation also calls home. Lexus, then, is a property under the Toyota umbrella, but also one with a sizable global presence. 

Manufacturing plants for Lexus are mostly found in Japan, primarily in the Aichi prefecture on the island of Honshu. Here, two of Lexus' factories are found: One in Tahara city, the original Lexus plant. Work began here early in 1979, and the plant continues to produce the Lexus LS, as well as models including the IS and IS F, GS, and GX, and multiple models of Toyota: the Land Cruiser, Wish, and Vanguard among them. The plant also produces V6 and V8 engines for some models. 

Lexus' other plant in Aichi Prefecture is in Motomachi. This is more of a specialized facility today, though it has a history dating back to 1958 when the project to develop it began. Having housed production of Toyota models like the Prius and Corona (quite the legacy), the futuristic facility is hard at work creating some of the most remarkable vehicles in Lexus' luxurious lineup, such as the Lexus LC. As of 1991, Lexus has also had a Kyushu plant in Fukuoka, which builds the RX, NX, UX, and the classic ES. 

In March 2019, Lexus proclaimed that the brand had sold 10 million vehicles across the planet. This feat wasn't achieved in Japan alone, as Lexus had to develop manufacturing plants elsewhere in the world. It planted significant roots in North America, one of which flourished in the Bluegrass state.

Kentucky's Georgetown plant began producing the Lexus ES 350 in October 2015, but it had been in action since Lexus itself began. As the president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Kentucky, Wil James, put it in 2015, the facility had been "the first wholly owned plant, building the number one best-selling car in America, the Camry, for 13 years in a row," and continued the collaboration with Lexus. The luxury brand reports that the extensive training process to prepare staff to manufacture the model amounted to 1.5 million work hours. It's a lot, but consider the reputation of the Toyota brand and its reliable models.

Elsewhere on the continent, the United States' northern neighbor also has an important part to play in the global Lexus production effort. In fact, Canada was the first overseas nation ever to build a Lexus, with a history-making RX 330 completed at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada's Cambridge facility in September 2003. Canada continues to build Lexus models, including the RX, NX, their hybrid variants, and select Toyotas, in Ontario, with another facility in Woodstock. Lexus may have few international facilities for building cars, but they're very significant ones.