Lexuses (or as I call them, Lexi! [pronounced with an I i]) are just Toyotas and Acuras are just Hondas. Its because Amerians won't buy Japanese Cars, so they just rename them!!
P.S Thanks NitroNitrous! Sorry for the confusion too - I only noticed after I posted!!
Honda and Toyota initially came to America with very affordable small cars (mopeds in Honda's case). Thus American's related them to small, afordable cars.
It was difficult for them to shed the image of "cheap", and their more expensive models didn't sell well. They then created upscale brands of Acura and Lexus to shed the "cheap" image.
Imagine now if Kia came out with a car rivaling the Mercedes S-class in price. It would tank.
Exactly! Renault's Avantime sold less in its total life time than Lotus sells Elises and Exiges in one year! Also, their Vel Satis and Vauxhall's Omega and Signum have barely sold any. Other examples include the Citroen C6, Pug 607........
Unless it has the badge, then it won't sell. You don't get McDonalds selling Caviar and Champagne do you!
No, it's the same in the UK, Japanese cars still have the reputation of cheapness, but unlike the US, the UK don't hold grudges.. That is why the metaphor you used about Kia stands, because it is the same in the UK too.
Sorry but it is the truth, we are all on the same mountain in regards to the branding images of Japanese cars in Europe and America so that's not the real reason behind Acura and Infiniti.
Lexus is different, because they do carry across some Toyota models, but most often than not, they have made they own executive cars, so IMO they are a totally different brand to Toyota or at least an semi-independant faction, interms of development and design and Lexus is the only company we get over in the UK that is branded as one of these 'image' manufacturers.
I'm suprised it's not the same for German cars over there, but the Germans didn't attack America, the Japanese did.
