I am trying to gauge on how well are these three Japanese luxury car makers doing at the present. It is my impression that the market seems to cool down for them. Either they do not offer some appealing products, the american cars are getting better and offer better values, their Japanese siblings (Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda) are more appealing and cheaper to the people, or they do not meet with the high end luxury car's expectation. Is it any of the above? Are they doing well in comparison to other car makers, particularly the german car manufacturers? The Japanese luxury cars do not seem to give a "shock and awe" products at the moment. Despite of the problems and dissatisfaction toward quality of German luxury cars, Audis, Benz and Bimmer seem to offer lots of exciting, new products. Am I correct on this? Do young professionals, business type people prefer to get a Bimmer than a GS or TL or a G35? Does Audi offer better products in their S4, S6 and S8? Strangely, those products seem to have low long term satisfaction from their owners. Do these people look for quality, style, or sheer performance? Could Japanese car makers ever match the performance of German luxury cars? I noticed that Benz has a variety of products that they offer. The Japanese counterparts only offer one type for each categories (Lexus IS, GS, ES, RX, LS or Acura RSX,CSX,TL,EL, RDX and MDX, or Infiniti G35, and M35?). Should these Japanese Luxury car makers try to go into more product varieries? Or... is it really that BMW engine is the ultimate driving machine? I have not heard people raving about a Honda TL or EL. There are not too many GS430 or 450h on the street. Infiniti G or M35 looks nice, and solid, but they do not stand out in the crowd. They seem to be too quiet these days... or run out of steam? Just curious!
- posted
17 years ago