The honour follows on from Lexus’s exceptional performance in the 2019 What Car? Reliability Survey, in which the brand was the highest-ranked manufacturer for the third year running and its CT 200h hybrid luxury hatchback recorded a 100 per cent fault-free performance across the previous 12 months.

What Car? Editor Steve Huntingford acclaimed Lexus’s track record, saying: “Lexus managed a clean sweep of wins the latest What Car? Reliability Survey, claiming the top spot for cars aged up to five years old, with an almost perfect 99 per cent, and for those aged six to 15 years old. A score of 93.3 per cent in the latter category demonstrates just how well the Japanese luxury brand builds its cars and why it’s such a worthy winner of our 2020 Reliability Award.”

Ewan Shepherd, Director of Lexus in the UK, said: “We’re delighted to receive this award in recognition of the quality that’s built into every car we make. With record sales in Europe and the UK in 2019 and a strong ongoing order bank, we can see that that more and more people are choosing Lexus self-charging hybrids. Their experience is enriched by the level of customer service delivered by our network, which has no equal in the industry.”

The Which? report, based on its own extensive tests and consumer feedback on reliability from more than 40,000 car owners, names the UK’s best and worst car buys. Which? is a brand name used by the Consumers' Association, the largest consumer organisation in the UK.

Faring particularly well in the diverse and fiercely competitive larger SUV segment, the Lexus RX took the prized Which? ‘Our Pick’ spot. As well as being noted for ticking all of the boxes as a luxury SUV, Which? customer survey results position the range-topping Lexus hybrid SUV as “one of the most reliable new cars you can buy”.

Another class leader, the Lexus CT 200h takes top spot as the Which? ‘Our Pick’ medium car. Survey results show that 94 per cent of CT 200h remain trouble-free in the first three years of ownership, proving it to be the most reliable medium car you can buy new today.

Alongside the recognition for individual vehicles, the Which? Car Guide places Lexus as its carmaker of the year in its brand reliability table, with 64 per cent of Lexus models on sale receiving ‘Best Buy’ status.

Full list of Lexus accolades:

Category Model Status

Medium cars Lexus CT 200h (2011-) Our Pick and Best Buy

Used large cars Lexus IS (2005-2012) Best Buy

Used large cars Lexus LS (2007-2012) Best Buy

Larger SUVs Lexus RX Hybrid (2015-) Our Pick and Best Buy

Autoindex is Scandinavia’s largest car survey among private car owners. It looks at the entire customer experience that car buyers have with their vehicle and its brand’ sales and after-sales support. This year, more than 11,000 Norwegian car owners have contributed to the survey.

“This has become an annual party day for us!”, commented Knut-Erik Jahnsen, head of Lexus in Norway. “We want to give a unique experience to our customers, from their first visit to a dealer until they drive their new car and when they need service or follow-up. We work hard during the whole year, even sending our employees to elite courses in Europe and Japan to keep improving our service. It is wonderful that customers reward us year after year with this ‘best in the industry’ accolade.”

Autoindex is performed annually by Loyalty Group International and looks at several factors: the car and the driving experience (40% of the score), the dealer and the purchase experience (20%), service at the workshop (20%) and loyalty to the brand (20%). This year again, Lexus won in all 4 categories.

Lexus is known for being a dedicated engineer company, delivering unique solutions and high quality products. But the secret ingredient behind the dominance in Autoindex is, according to Jahnsen, to be summarized in one word: Omotenashi, the Japanese sense of hospitality.

“Omotenashi is a core value in Japanese culture. And thus also for Lexus. It's with us all the time. It's about our dedication to the customer and the product, and how, for example, thousands of hours are spent perfecting details such as colour choices and the sound of the car door when closing. Omotenashi is for us a constant reminder to anticipate our customers' needs and always deliver something more than what is expected. Simply showing an unconditional respect and care for the customer.”

En route to the top spot, Lexus achieved the highest rankings for the interior and comfort, exterior and reliability categories. Significantly, the results are based on the opinions and experiences of car owners rather than experts and commentators, and Britain’s motorists once again responded in their thousands to the survey.

Lexus models also dominated the Driver Power model categories, with the RX taking the award for Best Premium Large SUV and rated best for interior and comfort; the RC coupe emerging as Best Sports Car and best for reliability and build quality; the IS saloon Best Compact Executive Car and runner-up to the Best New Car of the Year; and the GS saloon named Best Executive Car.

Driver Power is the UK’s largest, most comprehensive car satisfaction poll. Success in the survey is based on the first-hand experience of thousands of UK car owners who responded to Driver Power survey questions about the quality, reliability and performance of their vehicle (up to two years old) and the service they receive from retailers and repair shops.

Steve Fowler, Auto Express Editor-in-Chief, said: “It’s fantastic to see Lexus top the Driver Power brand ranking for the third year in a row. The company has a proven track record of building luxurious, desirable and comfortable cars, and the stellar reliability rankings Lexus continually generates will be the envy of many carmakers, too.”

Ewan Shepherd, Director of Lexus in the UK, commented: “It’s 30 years since the Lexus brand was born and it’s always been our aim not just to deliver the best customer service, but also to redefine what great service means to today’s customers. It’s this core commitment to excellence, a line-up of great new products and the hard work and dedication of everyone who works for Lexus – especially our retail partners – that has helped us once again claim top place in the Driver Power manufacturer rankings.”

For more information please visit: https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/driver-power

On each of the two criteria, quality and reliability, the Lexus brand gets first place. In terms of quality, the percentage of satisfaction reaches 93.7%, compared to an overall average of 81.4%. The percentage of satisfaction in terms of reliability is 96.2%, while the average of all brands is 85.4%.

Lexus consistently leads customer satisfaction surveys around the world, especially JD Power US surveys (first place in 2018 for the seventh year in a row), but also in Europe with the Auto Express Driver Power survey in the United Kingdom, AutoIndex in Norway (first brand in 2018 for the seventh year in a row),