Sorry, no pictures, but you've got to believe me. I was on my way back from lunch today and looked up from my paper to see a police car pull into a corner gas station. Something didn't look right. It was a standard white and blue police car with a light bar and all the logos. Then it dawned on me... IT WAS A LEXUS LS400!!!
ouch, Chinese cops in Japanese luxury cars eh? How about England though?, in London due to a shortage of prison vans the prisoners were moved around in chauffer-driven E-class mercedes-benz.
One of the taxi companies in town is using E200 compressor Benzes. Really ticked off a friend of mine in the States when he bought a new E500 and I told him it was a Chinese taxi.
Do they sell Lexus in China? Or could it have been a Toyota Celsior, or a Toyota Aristo? In Japan, up until this year, I believe, there were no Lexus cars, only Toyotas. Toyota Celsior is the LS400 and the Aristo I think is the GS model, same cars as Lexus tens of thousands cheaper with Toyota badges. I once saw a Toyota Aristo in Beverly Hills, thought it was funny. Also saw a Benz S200 in Beijing, that thing had to be soooooo underpowered.
It was a Lexus. We were close enough to see the badges. A Celsior (which I've seen plenty of in Tokyo) are for the most part RHD. I haven't seen one that is LHD yet. I had a GS300 which, you are correct, is the Aristo in Japan. In Japan, they used to also sell it as a twin turbo. NA never got that version for warranty concerns (this was when Lexus was still being built up as a brand). There are a lot of underpowered cars here. Government employees below a certain level are limited to 1.8 liter engines as company cars. They can afford more, but they can't buy them. There have been requests for BMW to put a turbo/supercharged 1.8l engine in the new 7-series. Only in China...