I'm not sure if I agree with that - Infiniti is most always regarded by those "in the know" as the more reliable of the two brands.
In my opinion, the LS430 doesn't look too much like the 2000 S-class; the original LS400 came out before the 1992 S-class. The GS does share the four headlights with Mercedes, but its design was so much more progressive than Mercedes' E-class design that I don't think Lexus was trying to copy Mercedes there either.
First seen in the 2000 Celica. In fact, Toyota's original idea was to have headlights which stretched far into the body as their new 'corporate grille.' Fortunately, it's been scrapped.
Here it's the weak seller of the class - second only to the X-Type in lowest number of sales. I see one every few weeks and I haven't seen a SportCross in over a year.
A bit on the expensive side. The Infiniti M45 is a much better V8, but it came out in 2003 and had the simple goal of being a better car than the already five-year-old Lexus GS430, which it accomplished. The 6-cylinder is pretty weak but seems to get most of the sales, especially since, with a few options, it looks just like the V8 and goes nearly as well - yet it's $9000 less. Competition is hard to find because everybody's afraid to draw the obvious line from the GS to the A6, 5-series, and E-class.
