Reply to: Why don't Japanese drivers buy US cars?

[NigelJK]

Frack baby frack

[LondonManc]

They're both grim. Give me a German coupe instead - anything from TT FSI through a Merc C63 to a 911 GTS. Ideally give me an Aston DBS or Bentley Continental but meh, I'm only a contractor, not a footballer.

[DimPrawn]

Frack baby frack.

Why won't the Ford Mustang sell a million 5.0 V8's here?

Because it costs £15 to fill it up in the USA and it does < 20 mpg.

[lilelvis2000]

Biggest selling "car" in USA 2015:



Biggest selling car in Japan:



Okay, snowflakes, can you see why US cars don't sell too well in Japan? Have a look and a think and a lie down in your safe space and get back to me.

Frack baby frack.

[DimPrawn]

The reason Japan, and much of the rest of the world, don't buy too many American cars is because they're crap.
Crap handling, crap build quality, inefficent.


HTH, BIDI.

Biggest selling "car" in USA 2015:



Biggest selling car in Japan:



Okay, snowflakes, can you see why US cars don't sell too well in Japan? Have a look and a think and a lie down in your safe space and get back to me.

[sasguru]

The reason Japan, and much of the rest of the world, don't buy too many American cars is because they're crap.
Crap handling, crap build quality, inefficent.


HTH, BIDI.

[sal]

The reason why Japanese manufacturers created their luxury brands was marketing in the US market. Toyota created Lexus, Honda-Acura, Nissan-Infinity. The Japanese cars invaded the US marked with little cars, small engines and reliability, that couldn't be matched the US brands. But that made them a name of low-end cars for the poor, no self respecting American could have said "I drive Toyota". By creating a separate brand that only offers luxury models, the managed to tap the US up-market.

The reason why we are not seeing a lot of Infinity/Acura/Lexus in Europe is that the parent brands are well received, without the need for rebranding and many models that are sold under the up-market brand in the US are sold under the parent brand in Europe.

Similar Opel is branded Voxhall in the UK and Holden in Oz

[LondonManc]

Depends on your budget and requirements I guess. The Mustang V8 is 20 grand cheaper than the S6 and other V8 coupes but is bloody thirsty. Looks great, sounds great, but would the 2.3 Turbo (313bhp) be sufficient for you?

[darmstadt]

Someone near where I live has bought himself a new Mustang with RHD! Nice looking but I've no idea how they handle the tight twist and turns of village roads.

I think James May did a programme a couple of years back about the Japanese cars initial introduction into the USA, quite revealing.

Well I know that in Germany in November 2015 they were the biggest selling sports car in that class, beating the likes of Porsche and the Audi RS'es...

[BoredBloke]

Every US-built car I've driven (hire cars only) has been terrible. The worst was a Chrysler convertible which was built from pig-iron, and handled like a trolleybus.
On our last ski trip to the States we had a big Mazda SUV, and it was fantastic.
Why would the Japanese buy an inferior product when they already build the 3 best selling cars in the US? Because they're not stupid.

According to Clarkson and co on the grand tour, the japs make the top 5 selling cars in the us.

[lilelvis2000]

Someone near where I live has bought himself a new Mustang with RHD! Nice looking but I've no idea how they handle the tight twist and turns of village roads.

I think James May did a programme a couple of years back about the Japanese cars initial introduction into the USA, quite revealing.

[eek]

Erm, not quite. The Yanks got the original branded as Acura NSX while we got it as the Honda NSX. Nice try though slick.

So what brand in the UK gets it? A quick search tells me it's Honda for its on the front page of their websites

[LondonManc]

I think the clue is in the picture's file name (Acura NSX)

Erm, not quite. The Yanks got the original branded as Acura NSX while we got it as the Honda NSX. Nice try though slick.

[eek]

Infiniti had a Q30 and a Q60 on display at the Trafford Centre the other week. The Q60 seems very much a TT competitor, but also more of an upmarket Celica - pretty much what you'd expect from Nissan's luxury arm.

Interesting thing about Acura is that they've not launched in Japan yet despite being Honda's equivalent of Lexus to Toyota; that said, their early brands in the USA were what we know to be Honda, such as the Legend, Integra and NSX.

The new NSX was unveiled last year - I wonder if we're going to get it badged as Honda or Acura?

I think the clue is in the picture's file name (Acura NSX)

[LondonManc]

Muscle cars are great, but they just don't work in the UK. Beyond that, US cars are generally terrible, particularly the interiors. Interestingly enough, there are some quality Japanese marques in the US market that aren't so common here, such as Infinity and Acura.

Infiniti had a Q30 and a Q60 on display at the Trafford Centre the other week. The Q60 seems very much a TT competitor, but also more of an upmarket Celica - pretty much what you'd expect from Nissan's luxury arm.

Interesting thing about Acura is that they've not launched in Japan yet despite being Honda's equivalent of Lexus to Toyota; that said, their early brands in the USA were what we know to be Honda, such as the Legend, Integra and NSX.

The new NSX was unveiled last year - I wonder if we're going to get it badged as Honda or Acura?