About five or six years ago, Toyota - brilliantly, it must be said - introduced a new type of luxury car, the Lexus LS400. Admittedly, it borrowed heavily from Mercedes-Benz and BMW, and in some aspects its conservative styling made it almost a direct clone. Bits of BMW here, shades of Mercedes there, the odd three-quarter aspect which looked like them both.
But it set new standards, notably in its reduction of noise and harshness, its wind-cheating ability for such a big car and its wonderful, concert-hall audio system.
In short, the LS400 was an instant success, both in the Far East and in the United States. It undercut Mercedes by a considerable amount in both markets, although it was less of a hit - for reasons not totally explained - in Britain, where it sold in meagre numbers despite a heavy advertising campaign.
But then Toyota - buoyed by its overwhelming success at home and abroad - committed the cardinal sin.
It introduced a down-market, three-litre, luxury saloon with the tag, ES300. Some critics dubbed it an 'over-priced Camry', Toyota's run-of-the-mill three-litre saloon.
While the ES300 sold in reasonable numbers, despite the lack of any significant marketing campaign, it was a shadow of the original Lexus.