Toyota's home-field disadvantage
Toyota's Lexus brand has been the best-selling luxury car in the U.S. for six years, but that doesn't impress buyers on the automaker's home turf in Japan. Sales have been slow since Lexus made its debut in Japan in 2005. Japanese buyers think Mercedes and BMW sedans have "greater panache," said analyst Christopher Richter of CLSA Asia Pacific. "In Japan," he said, "people want something that says, ‘Hey, I spent stupid money on a car.'" (Los Angeles Times, free registration required)
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