Lexus started up in 1980, some years before the car. Founded by a group of lexicographers who had gained experience in the bilingual dictionary department of Collins Publishers, the company acted as authors, editors, typesetters, recruiters, trainers and managers and produced a wide range of dictionaries, schoolbooks, grammars and phrasebooks (over 200 titles) in over 20 language combinations.

From the outset Lexus was also a translation company, providing a translation service locally, nationally and internationally.

Lexus Ltd now publishes its own growing list of books, mostly with a focus on language and language learning.