TOYOTA CITY, Japan — Lexus is up to something big and bold at a secret mountain lair taking shape in the forested hills on the outskirts of Toyota City, far from the public's prying eye.
In a different era, the woods concealing the company's new test track here might have thundered with the roar of V-8 engines. Now, it's the futuristic whine of Lexus electric vehicles.
Lexus engineers — even Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda himself — are busy testing the brand's next-generation EVs at this little-talked-about proving ground. And soon, the secretive Shimoyama complex will play an even bigger role for Japan's top premium player.