[fragmede]

That's called badge engineering and the brands Lexus, Acura, and Infinity were created for the purpose of selling previously cheaper Japanese cars up market. If consumers were more astute they wouldn't even exist.

This is why economic models based on high-information, rational consumers fall short. You and I may put more thought into purchasing a vehicle, but cars have been sold because it was featured in a movie or a myriad of other reasons we might consider superficial.

[pedalpete]

I'm not denying that I purchased my car on many superficial measurements.

Re: Badge engineering, it's called that in automotive circles, but I'm not sure about other industries. The point I was trying to make is that this isn't specific to cars.