Interesting . . . I do believe it's more aimed at capitalizing on the superficiality of the American consumer and the fickle minds that spend the most money . . .
Silver 2000 . . . you make a good point, howeveer I think for some makers that has very little to do with it. Infiniti for example has the I30 which is the correct counterpart for the Maxima and in fact is identical besides the exterior and a few interior appointments . . . they would never have needed to sell side by side . . . it's the same damn car!
The Q45 for example is the only 8 cylinder in the N American lineup and could just as easily appeared on our shores as a Nissan flagship without interfering with sales for the rest of the line . . .
I believe Toyota NEEDED to create the Lexus line though, because they have so many econo/luxury sedans at home in Japan, where their lineup is more of the family luxury variety . . . I believe they HAD those cars already, just needed to come up with a plan to market them in the US . . .
Nissan on the other hand, is viewed as the sports car maker in Japan . . . they more or less had to CREATE the Infiniti lineup probably to compete with Lexus and Acura . . . all the Infiniti engines are of the variety used in the sportier Nissan vehicles.
Witness the 2.0 liter engine in the G20 . . . it's identical to the engine in the sporting version of the Sentra, the SE-R . . . the base model Sentras use a 1.6 liter . . .
I'm tired now . . . got work to do, see y'all later
|