During his 25 years at the helm, Eiji Toyoda (pictured above in 1967 ... expanding production overseas for the first time, launching the Lexus brand and turning Toyota from a minor player into ...

Read more: Every Major Luxury Car Brand Ranked Worst To Best The origin of Lexus can be traced back to the early '80s, when ...

Such a meeting was held in 1983 between Toyota chairman Eiji Toyoda and his company executives ... The result was a vehicle that later became known as the Lexus LS 400 prior to its US premier.

In fact, Toyota has owned the luxury car brand since 1983, when the company's then-sitting president, Eiji Toyoda, founded Lexus in hopes of building "a car that is better than the best in the world." ...