Automotive News reports Lexus may uproot its global headquarters and relocate to California. The move would pull the Toyota luxury brand out of Japan for the first time in the nameplate’s history. Toyota has already shifted Lexus’ global marketing functions to the company’s campus in Torrance, California in what is being seen as the first step in a larger move. Automotive News quotes Executive Vice President Yukitoshi Funo as saying the shift is part of an effort to make Lexus less of a Japanese brand and more of a “transnational” one.
Lexus isn’t the only Japanese luxury brand shifting its operations around. Nissan announced plans to move the global headquarters for Infiniti from Japan to Hong Kong just last month. The new office handles everything from global marketing to sales and communications. Engineering, however, remains in Japan.
Toyota says that the company hasn’t completely decided where Lexus’ global headquarters will land and that there are still plenty of other options on the table.
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