The past twelve months has seen Lexus continue the success of previous years by winning a number of industry awards, all helping to fill the Lexus trophy cabinet.
The annual Paul Pietsch Prize for Advanced Technology is one of Germany's most prestigious awards for automotive technology and which has been won by the Lexus GS 450h. The prize is awarded for advanced technology in production cars with the jury made up of the technical editors of Auto Motor Und Sport's group publications. The award was presented to Lexus Managing Officer Takeshi Yoshida who has been instrumental in developing the Lexus Hybrid Drive. The GS 450h won the prize for its Lexus Hybrid Drive system, with a dominant majority of votes from the jury. The jury praised the GS 450h for providing the power of a 4.0-litre V8 engine with the fuel consumption of a 6-cylinder engine.
In America, the 2006 J.D. Power and Associates Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) awarded the Lexus LS 430 the top-performing model in the premium luxury sedan sector for the 12th consecutive year. The VDS records the number of problems a vehicle owner experiences and finds that long-term durability continues to be an important consumer factor. The GS 300 and GS 430 also won in the Midsize Premium Car sector with the SC 430 winning in the Premium Sports Segment.
In Germany, the GS finished top in Auto Zeitung magazine's import upper class. The IS 250 picked up the 'Goldenes Lenkrad' in the mid and upper class in Bild am Sonntag magazine. In the Auto Express and Auto Bild awards the LS 460 received the Innovation Award for the ground-breaking Advanced Pre-Crash Safety System. Auto Bild also awarded the 'Auto 1' Award for the GS 450h in the limousine category. In the UK Top Gear Magazine awarded the LS 600h the Limousine Car of The Year Award, and What Car awarded Toyota and Lexus the 'Car of the Year 2007 Green Award'. In Portugal, the GS 450h received the 'Executive of the Year' award in the AutoSport Journal.
