The announcement was made as part of a statement by parent company Toyota. The idea was first spoken about by Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda during an interview with CarsGuide.com in regards to a new yacht model they were producing.
"Toyota itself is trying to transform from an automotive company to a mobility company and in order to enhance the value of the Lexus brand we need to cover land, sea and also air."
Details about the plan are scarce, currently. If the brand follows the same trends as they did with their boats, then we can expect a third-party partnership to handle production of various Lexus brand aviation. It's also not clear about what kinds of models will be available, exactly. We expect smaller private models and hobby planes, mostly.
While it all sounds like Lexus is wanting to conquer all aspect of Earth, we suspect that this move may have been under the pressure of rival company Honda. Honda has been building private airplanes for over 15 years. They produce some of the most fuel-efficient personal planes available today.
It'll be a fairly long while before Lexus has anything worth showing. But we will be keeping an eye on it, regardless.