The Toyota Soarer 3rd generation was released to glowing public acclaim by Toyota in 1991. The exterior design for the car came from the Toyota Calty Design Research team based in Newport Beach, California. The car was especially designed for the North American market where it was sold as the Lexus SC400 and Lexus SC300. This fortuitous combination of Californian design, Toyota engineering and Toyotas decision in the late 80's to take on the 'cream' of European 'marques', resulted in arguably the finest 'grand tourer' of its decade.

The range of models produced varied by engine, from the very quick 1JZ-GTE 2.5ltr turbo engined model to the powerful but refined 1UZ-FE, aluminium 4.0ltr V8. With a host of different options available and design changes through its 10 year history it can almost seem as if no two cars are the same. Perhaps the ultimate model is the 'four wheel steering' and 'active suspension' UZZ32, with less than 900 built it has gained a reputation of being the ultimate choice for its road handling capabilities. Production continued until the year 2000 when it was replace by the 4th generation Toyota Soarer the 430CSV.

Lexus Soarer

A question often asked is about the name of the car. Is it a Lexus Soarer or a Toyota? The official answer is that there was never a car called the Lexus Soarer produced anywhere in the world. In Japan the car was called the Toyota Soarer, in the United States of America it was called either the SC400 or the SC300.
However, the car was never officially available in the United Kingdom, Australia or New Zealand, home to many a model imported from Japan. Owners in these countries do change the emblems on imported Toyota Soarers to read as a Lexus Soarer. There are many arguments from owners both for and against but those who do change the emblems to Lexus Soarer do so because the of the cars undoubted luxury pedigree, not to deceive but to pay homage to the Lexus brand.