Japanese auto manaufacturer name changes

[Fujiumi]

Don't know if this topic was discussed before, but why do Japanese car makers change the name of some cars and even the brand in North America, such as Scion and Lexus under Toyota, Infiniti under Nissan, or Acura and Honda?

Wouldn't it have been better if the Scion FR-S would of just been sold as the Toyota GT86 or the Infiniti G35 or G37 be sold as the Nissan Skyline sport coupe as they are in Japan?

Why would they think INFINITI G37 will sell better than NISSAN SKYLINE in America when the SKYLINE name has had a more popular history around the automotive world?

[cnk]

Marketing. . plain and simple.

Would you buy a Toyota if you were shopping for a BMW or MB? But if they market/brand accordingly, then people that don't know any better will buy it. US manufacturers do it too, for example the GMC Canyon is a more refined Chevy Colorado.

[Wise]

Yeah it's pretty much just marketing.

Because companies know that consumers are heavily influenced by brand names and logos over actual products.

[Packofcrows]

$$$. Scion sounds flashy if you know nothing of cars or Toyota. Infiniti sounds luxurious.

Marketing, targeting audiences...etc

[TM]

Toyota has specific values associated with it. Family, boring but dependable, conservative... Scion was created to target Generation Y'ers. They can create more "fun" advertisements targeting the younger crowd without putting off Toyota customers that expect the more conservative approach.

[Poodles]

Marketing and more importantly laws dictating distances between dealers. Chevy and GMC are the same damn trucks, but they can put the dealers closer together to get more sales out of them.


For luxury brands, the brand is the point. The Hyundai Genesis (not the coupe), Equus and the Kia K900 aren't selling well for this exact reason. Neither brand is a "luxury" brand, so people don't get their rocks off on the status symbol of having a BMW, Lexus, Cadillac, etc. People aren't willing to spend $60k on a Hyundai...


Sadly, this also drives sales of crap cars like the new cheap Mercedes...

[strat61caster]

It has a ton to do with how marketing took hold of the US in the 50's & 60's, we wouldn't have any concept of this if not for Chevy positioning their entire lineup 'underneath' Buick/Cadillac even though many cars had 'twins' rolling off the same factory assembly line. Ford does it with Lincoln, Dodge with Chrysler, we were trained to think of a brand as having a specific market position, instead of Chevy offering base model trucks AND luxo-trucks, the luxury models have GMC badges on the front.

It just works out that way, nobody in America wants to spend $30k for a tarted up Accord, never mind that it actually does compete with entry level German luxury sedans in terms of everything that matters for that segment, so voila put an Acura badge on it, have the salesmen dress in suits and watch 'em sell.

It's a shame, there are certainly more than a few bucks on every FR-S going to support the waste that is Scion branding and marketing that could be saved by folding into Toyota.

[chaoskaze]

Because in America ppl stereotype things more then other advance country. Don't ask me why but it's the truth.

[rice_classic]

Americans are generally low-information people. Yup, that's about the nicest way of saying it.

Therefore brand/product differentiation is needed. It's why Hyundai has struggled to sell luxury automobiles, because they still say Hyundai on them. The same thing happened with Nissan/Toyota/Honda.. They wanted the luxury market but they already had brand presence as beige appliances. So they develop a new brand that specifically targets the desired demographic and make cars specific to those purchasing habits (luxury).

Acura/Infinity/Lexus are luxury of course and Scion was "youthful", however Toyota has taken many years to realize that "youth" in America don't have any purchasing power, and that they already had an entry level brand called Toyota... oops.

So now Hyundai is trying to pawn off Kia as the affordable option and Hyundai as the luxury option but you cannot do that when your still offering the Elantra with a Hyundai badge. They make excellent luxury cars but luxury car owners aren't buying quality, they're buying "image".. If they were actually buying "quality" fewer and fewer of them would be buying German (says all my luxury german car owning friends and mechanics). Luxury=image for most in this country.

Secondly, to further this brand recognition, most have done away with vehicle naming on luxury lines. You get the Camry and the Civic but move up and you get RDX, Q50, ILX, IS350 and so on and so forth. Why? When someone asks the owner: "What do you drive?" it means they won't answer with: "A Q50x"... No, they'll answer with, "I drive an Infinity, or Lexus, or (Insert brand name here)". That's done on deliberately as a corporate marketing strategy. Even Mazda tried to brush "miata" under the rug and replace it with MX-5.

[Calum]

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

Because in America ppl stereotype things more then other advance country. Don't ask me why but it's the truth.

Canadian here, but we're not that different.

I remember watching the Iron Man movie with the concept NSX in it. A buddy of mine couldn't get past the idea that Stark would drive a lowly Acura. It didn't matter what I told him about the performance and heritage of the previous NSX, there was no way Acura could make a super car.

[chaoskaze]

Originally Posted by Calum

Canadian here, but we're not that different.

I remember watching the Iron Man movie with the concept NSX in it. A buddy of mine couldn't get past the idea that Stark would drive a lowly Acura. It didn't matter what I told him about the performance and heritage of the previous NSX, there was no way Acura could make a super car.

You should have wow him with the fact all F1 engine is made by honda for a long ass time.

[drewbot]

I am happy they released the FR-S in the lowest brand segment, imagine if it was a Lexus IS-FR F-Sport 200??? lol

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by rice_classic

Americans are generally low-information people. Yup, that's about the nicest way of saying it.

It's astonishing how many people go to buy a car and their methodology is to hit up three or four dealerships with only a budget in mind and a vague idea of what they want, BMW/Merc/Audi or Ford/Chevy/Toyota or Mazda/Hyundai/Honda or Buick/Acura/Lexus, whatever bias they had from 5 years ago and by Monday morning are driving to work with their new car.

A good salesman could literally sway the average American new car buyerfrom buying a base BMW 3 series into a loaded Subaru Forrester, or vice versa.

[synchromesh]

During the 60's, Japan wasn't exactly a powerhouse in many areas. After 20 years it was decided upon to change brand names to compete image wise.


In the early 80's, South Korea wasn't exactly a powerhouse in many areas either. Today, they may have to go beyond gimmicky taglines and slogans as it appears that currently sales have petered off.