October 1990 - In its first full year, Lexus sales exceeds its 12-month sales goals of 60,000 cars by more than 3,000.

April 1991 - In an effort to ensure all Lexus headquarters and Lexus dealership employees understand the Lexus mission of complete customer satisfaction, a comprehensive certification program (the industry's first) is introduced.

December 1991 - Lexus becomes the No. 1 selling luxury import by selling 71,206 cars, more than Mercedes Benz or BMW.

January 1993 - George Borst becomes Lexus Group Vice President and General Manager.

October 1993 - Lexus introduces the first Certified Pre-owned Vehicle program in the industry. It offers customers the opportunity to purchase a quality Lexus vehicle and experience Lexus' outstanding customer service.

January 1995 - Lexus closes 1994 as the No. 1 selling import luxury nameplate for the third consecutive year.

April 1995 - James E. Press becomes Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Lexus Division.

May 1995 - U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor threatens 100 percent tariffs on selected Japanese luxury vehicles, including the entire Lexus line, in an effort to settle a long-standing U.S./Japan trade dispute. Proposed tariffs threaten more than 7,500 American Lexus jobs with minimal potential impact on Toyota's Japanese operations.

June 1995 - Eleventh hour agreement is reached between the United States and Japan averting a potentially disastrous trade war.

January 1996 - Lexus sales since its inception reach 500,000 units.

March 1996 - Lexus announces the launch of the Lexus Centre of Performance Art, the luxury automaker's Internet site on the World Wide Web. The new web site offers consumers a personal library of information about Lexus and is the first to offer direct links to Lexus dealership and Certified Pre-Owned vehicle web sites.

April 1996 - Lexus and Coach fine leather establish a co-branding partnership to bring out a special edition ES 300 that offers additional features and comes with a Coach bag.

August 1996 - Lexus introduces its companion Lexus dealership program, an alternative means to providing a Lexus dealership in markets which would otherwise be too small to support a separate dealership. Lexus of Maplewood (Maplewood, Minn.) is established as a companion to Lexus of Wayzata (Wayzata, Minn.).

March 1997 - Lexus once again partners with Coach fine leather to offer the first Coach special edition LS 400.

September 1997 - Lexus reports the best sales month in its history with total August Lexus sales of 11,117; representing a 41.1 percent increase over the same period in 1996.

December 1997 - Lexus debuts its one-of-a-kind Street Rod at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Based on a '32 roadster, the Lexus Street Rod was created to showcase a specially modified Lexus GS 400 V8 producing more than 400 horsepower.

December 1997 - Lexus set a new all-time Lexus sales record with 97,593 units in 1997 - a 20.0 percent increase over 1996 calendar year sales.

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