They don't sell here because we're quite happy to buy Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi. This was not the case in the US for many years, hence them all having premium brands in the form of Acura, Infiniti and DSM.

Even Lexus dont sell in any where near the numbers of the German companies, despite doing reliability infinitely times better (from what ive heard)

Infiniti version of the 370z? do you mean the G37? looks quite different in my eyes. To be honest I dont think Lexus has really been accepted here and Acurra that you mention, if i am not mistaken, generally sell European spec Honda's to the Americans so are not really like Lexus and Inifniti.

What we think of as Japanese luxury brands are really focussed on America and in my opinion that provides a different view of what luxury is over the Europeans. I had a go in a new Lexus GS hybrid the other day and whilst a fantastic car mechanically etc it had lots of exposed plastic in the cabin and there are about four leather colours and four veneers. Contrast that to any of the european offering competeing and the choice is much wider and cars more bespoke.

When i asked how long it would take to get a GS450h i was expecting the usual for European cars 12 weeks and he said.....

you can get one NEXT WEEK! which shows how they are focussed on the American way of buying cars "off lot" and having it immediately rather than bespoke build and wait. As a European car buyer in that market I would rather have what I wanted rather than what I am told I can have. I cant believe with Lexus that if you want black leather you must have a specific wood for instance because thats how they build them. That isnt luxury its just the "must have it today" mentality transposed to cars.

i don't consider lexus a posh brand, there above ford and the Japanese but way way below the Germans

clever marketing by our EU buddies I guess

The problem is their ranges and cars are not optimised for the European market.

About 80% of the "large exec" sector is accounted for by 2.0 litre diesels. When you only offer large petrols or large engined hybrids you're not going to sell as many GS300's as Audi do A6 2.0 TDI's.

Marketing, Audi began it's push upmarket before Lexus existed. It can take a while to change public perceptions but then the rest of vag can be brought up by association.

Could be because Japanese cars entered our market at the tinny, cheap end. First impressions and all that?
Mercedes, BMW and AUDI came in as high quality, expensive cars from the start.

Even VW, a German company, have trouble shifting Phaetons. People seem to associate them with the cheaper end of the market
despite the quality of their 'posh' cars.

I'm not sure why Nissan and Honda can't get their luxury brands to work in the UK like Lexus. Could be because Lexus got there first
and our market is just too small to support any more.

Japanese cars have never been looked at as premium brand over here! They are reliable and do a good job, but if you have a bit of money to spend on a new car, unless its a performance car, people see Japanese as a cheaper alternative to the German crew! Isn't an Acura exactly the same as a Honda over here? Infinity just haven't done well on marketing! I see BMW and Audi adverts and posters a hell of a lot more!

Prejudice, and a perception that "Germanic" = "quality".

Totally agree, before the 80s and the success of the original Ur quattro in rallying you wouldn't have been seen dead in an Audi.
BMW had there problems too and nearly went out of business.