Luxury or bust for foreign automakers in Japan

Tokyo

TOKYO businessman Randal Furudera isn't about to swap his German-made BMW M5 for a "boring" Japanese car, although he'll give them some grudging respect for their ho-hum dependability.

Deep-pocketed buyers like Furudera are driving sales in Japan of high-end foreign brands, which dominate the niche sector in a car market long seen as all but shuttered to overseas automakers.

"Most Japanese cars these days are sort of becoming moving appliances," the 54-year-old told AFP.

"They're very reliable, they're good quality, they never break and all that, but they're not very interesting to drive." Mid-range foreign vehicles are a rare sight on Japanese streets, but it isn't hard to spot a Porsche zipping around the capital or a nouveau riche billionaire behind the wheel of a half-a-milli…