b15

I mean the reason why exists was because Americans care about status. For many people, the badge/prestige is an important part of car ownership. To some that's all that matters. When the same product is badged differently and has different marketing to target the desired demographic (those who are 'too good' for the mainstream brands), now people all of a sudden see it in a different light. It's about status. To the average (dumb) American, 'Infiniti' is more luxurious than a Nissan, even though until recently Infiniti's wore the Nissan badge outside the US. For example, take the V36. In the US it's the Infiniti G35 sedan and the rest of the world a Nissan Skyline. Put these two identical cars in front of an American and guaranteed they'll think the Infiniti is better, because that's what they've been trained to think.

Obviously as the marques have developed, the manufacturers have started to differentiate the mainstream brand more from the luxury brand, but when they were first created, they were merely dressed up versions of the mainstream vehicle sold elsewhere in the world with different marketing.

Just like people state they could 'never pay $50k' for a Hyundai.....market it as a Genesis without mention of Hyundai, and the idiots will come. Heck there's a reason why the Hyundai logo is not on any of their luxury cars....