There’s a brilliant interview over at Lexus Magazine with “Lexus Performance Meister” Hirokazu Koga, the man responsible for each Lexus’ feel:
You see, Koga’s longtime job was to oversee a seemingly intangible aspect of any car: how it feels to drive, or perhaps, more accurately, how you’re supposed to feel when driving Lexus vehicles.
What, you may ask, are we talking about here? Well, if you’ve ever felt a mild adrenaline rush during a graceful, high-speed curve, or maybe felt satisfaction during a strong left-lane pass on the highway, or felt relief after a smooth stop when braking hard for a surprise hazard, then you know what I’m talking about. That’s the work of Mr. Koga.
On why a feeling of “smoothness” is so important to Lexus:
“It’s never just about power. The power needs to be there, but it has to be fluid. We are obsessive about smoothing out the ‘shock’ moment between gear changes or the transition between hybrid power sources.”
On why, to Lexus, physics and emotions are forever linked:
“We engineer each value to define the dynamics and sophistication of Lexus performance. And that, ultimately, is an emotional quality with huge meaning to us. Yes, there is speed, sharpness, and precision, but there is also smoothness, quietness, and ever-increasing efficiency.”
Even though each Lexus is different, there’s still this universal feeling shared by every model, from the LFA right to the CT 200h — it only makes sense that there’s one man making it all line up exactly so. What a job!
I really enjoy reading about the people behind Lexus — great to see features like this up on Lexus Magazine. Highly recommend read.
[Source: Lexus Magazine]