is Lexus an American car or a Japanese car?

Answer 1

Lexus is a premium marque in the US, produced by Toyota.

Japanese car companies have had a hard time selling premium cars (and therefore gaining premium profits) in the United States under their standard company names. The "big three" Japanese car companies have all adopted different monikers for their premium cars in the US - Toyota has Lexus, Honda has Acura, and Nissan has Infiniti.

What is interesting to me is that these names are only carried in the US. The Japanese marques carry themselves in other countries. I spent a fair amount of time in Germany last year, and was surprised to find what they considered to be a new "Honda Accord" looked exactly like an Acura TSX in the US.

I haven't been to Japan in many years, but I do recall that the top-of-the-line Toyota cars that I saw there were exactly the Lexus models that I was familiar with in the US. In other areas besides North America, Japanese marques do not need to hide themselves under another name.

While the cars made under the Lexus marque are found around the world, they are only found under the Lexus marque in North America.

Answer 2

Lexus is the luxury line for Toyota. Therefore, it is a Japanese. All of the vehicles in the Lexus line-up are built in Japan with the exception of some of the RX 350 being built in Canada.

In the past some of the Lexus vehicles where carried under the Toyota Badge in some counties. However, as of 2006 Lexus vehicles carry the same name worldwide.

Answer 3

Lexus is a Japanese car company. Every single Lexus is built in Japan, expect for half of the RX 350's. Half of those are built in Canada and the other half are built in Japan. And Lexus is a branch off of Toyota, which is also a Japanese-based company.

Answer 4

For the same reason why I still drive a 1997 BMW 528i (which still looks and handles like it's brand-new even with 215,000 miles on it) - the cars are built to last. The American brands and the vast majority of their products were built based on a study that found most Americans are willing to sell or trade their car after owning it for 3-5 years. As a result, the product quality is pretty good on the short run, but longevity is virtually non-existent. Why don't most of the imported brands do the same thing? Because they take pride in their product; when something breaks, they take it like a personal failure and will move heaven and earth to fix it, not just for you, but more importantly to make sure it doesn't happen in future models. It's also because of this that pretty much everyone in my family, and the vast majority of people that have ever driven a BMW, Mercedes, Audi or Porsche continues to buy German. The Japanese company Nissan has a similar reputation as well. I would not consider the Japanese cars "better" as a whole, though. Many of them are absolute crap, and the major difference is that the Japanese companies provide a wider variety of machines in terms of quality.

Answer 5

Japanese company that made the car for the American and other markets. Most Lexus in Japan are Toyota's with different names.

Answer 6

A Lexus is a high end toyota a japanese car. Like the other guy said though they are probably actually built here.

Answer 7

as was stated before, lexus is the luxury division of toyota which is a japanese based car company. however a lot of their vehicles are made in the US as to avoid import tarrifs and simplify the manufacturing and delivery process. an easy way to tell where the car was made is to look at the first digit on the VIN number. if it begins with J it was made in Japan. if it begins with 1 it was made in teh US.

Answer 8

It is a Toyota brand. Toyota is from Japan. Lexus is also a Japanese brand and it is also sold elsewhere in the world, outside of the U.S. too.

Answer 9

It's hard to define these days because Toyotas are built around the world, and Toyota shares are owned by many organisations and people around the world.

But as far as I know, all Lexus are built in Japan.

Answer 10

Toyota Japan