Originally Posted by
BehindBlueI's
Well, I was in Qatar in 2003-2005. Not exactly 25 years ago, but not really today. Lexus was pretty big there, and since trademark enforcement is non-existent you had Lexus fruit stands and Lexus clothing stores, etc.
Regardless, it was not a US-only brand even in the beginning. It was certainly exported to the US, and preferentially because Japan had agreed to limit the number of vehicles exported to the US voluntarily to avoid a trade war. The deal was for a certain number of units, not a certain value, so it made sense to export the most expensive vehicles that would sell. However it was not specific to the US, nor even to North America.
From Lexus' history page: