Lexus from Japan are better than those from North America?

[Andy B]

Excuse my ignorance here (or possibly naivety) but when talking about the difference between car manufacturing plants in Japan and other parts of the world, is it "just" the ability to construct a car from a multitude of component parts that we are comparing here?

Am I right to assume that the majority of the parts that go into making a car are identical regardless of whether my NX, for example, was built in Japan or Canada (i.e. the parts are sourced from the same manufacturers)? And therefore the "only" difference is the skill, quality control standards and the extra attention to detail that Japanese car workers aspire to when putting all these parts together? Surely Lexus Japan and Lexus Canada share identical component parts.

[I realise though that other aspects of the manufacturing process such as the quality of paint application; etc. can be specific to location and even individual workers\robots.]

Anyway, from my point of view, it may or may not be a myth that Lexus cars built in Japan are put together better - but I'm glad that mine was built there.

[Rabbers]

3 hours ago, Andy B said:

…  And therefore the "only" difference is the skill, quality control standards and the extra attention to detail that Japanese car workers aspire to … it may or may not be a myth that Lexus cars built in Japan are put together better - but I'm glad that mine was built there.

Andy, if by “extra attention to detail” you mean a higher level of conscientiousness in carrying out given tasks than might generally be found among their Western counterparts, I would personally tend to place greater trust in Japanese workers, individually and collectively, and therefore in the products they make.  I base my opinion not on any dealings I have ever had with Japanese car factory personnel, which  are none, but on the imagined extension to them of the excellent professional memories I retain of their “white-collar” colleagues in the commercial and administrative areas of other industries.  Levels of reliability and punctuality were in my experience so high as to be almost taken for granted.  Whether these and other related business virtues primarily derived from the local culture or an educational system that fostered receptivity to training in trades and professions I am unable to say,  but they were an immediately observable phenomenon in Japanese managers and staff.