Quote:
Originally Posted by speediva
Ah, the rebadging game at its best.
I love that some troglodytes still don't realize that their Lexus/Acura/Infiniti is an overpriced Toyota/Honda/Nissan with leather... or nowadays, is that much even still true?
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The edges are so blurred, I don't even Toyota could tell you where the Toyota ends and Lexus begins.
Lexus used to be a purely American Brand, like Acura the cars were just re-badged Honda's.
When the brand developed a reputation Toyota started to use it as a way to sell it's higher end cars globally, but they were still just re-badged Toyota's.
Here in NZ we get domestic market Lexus and Imported Toyota's. Often the Toyota's have had Lexus badge kits put on them, as believe it or not, they are worth more (despite being exactly the same car).
A couple of years ago Toyota decided to make Lexus their "premium" global brand. So high end Toyota's now get a Lexus badge regardless of where they are sold.
There is still some cross over with the LX, but the rest are Lexus badged only. Unless the next Camry is RWD, they don't even share a lot of platforms anymore, except for the CT which is Prius based.
It gets even more confusing if you try and figure out which of these models are designed, in North America or Japan, and I am not even going to try and figure out where they are all built. I imagine a good number are build in the US, especially the V8 models.
Nissan is working towards doing the same thing with the Infiniti range, which is now marketed in Europe and North America, as well as the Middle East and some parts of Asia.
Here in NZ the only way to get hold of a G model is buy a used Japanese Skyline, and I've yet to see any of the bigger M models here with Nissan badges.