Following Toyota’s lead, Honda said today it would sell vehicles under its Acura brand in Japan starting in 2008. Currently, Acura is a brand specific to the North American market. Recently, Toyota began selling cars under the “Lexus” name back home in Japan. Initally, Japan’s three biggest carmakers each set up luxury brands — Lexus, Acura and Infiniti — in the U.S. to sell pricier models to brand-concious Americans who didn’t want their luxury cars directly associated with the companies’ cheaper offerings. That mentality has seemingly spread back to Japan. “Honda may be realizing that unless it offers its Acura brand in Japan, it will lose out to luxury brands including Toyota’s Lexus,” said Koji Endo, an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston Japan in Tokyo.
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