Toyota Mark II most of all, its reliability; the Cressida was quickly gaining a reputation for outstanding ownership. In August 1983, Toyota chairman Eiji Toyoda initiated the F1 project ("Flagship" and "No. 1 vehicle"; alternatively called the "Circle-F" project), a clandestine effort aimed at producing a world-class luxury sedan for international markets. This led to the creation of an all new, full size luxury sedan designed for export markets and was called the Lexus LS. The US-market 1981 Cressida was the first car to come with motorized automatic shoulder harnesses which wrapped around front seat occupants when the door was closed and the
Luxury vehicle ES and LaCrosse emphasize "comfortable, reasonably priced luxury", while the TL has recently been targeted at the entry-level luxury sport market due to its SH-AWD. Recently, the entry-level luxury has been very competitive, and there has been price-overlapping with well-equipped non-luxury cars. The bestselling vehicles of the marque are frequently compact executive cars, such as the BMW 3 Series that makes up 40% of the vehicles that BMW sells worldwide. The mid-size luxury segment is commonly referred to as executive cars in Britain, "Obere Mittelklasse" in German, and "Grandes Routières" in French. Examples of models in this category include Acura