> Sometimes, they drop a couple of > features from the U.S. models, although I do not know how much they could > save the money by doing so, and they might lose some markets by doing so, I > do not know.
Ken, This is done for patent reasons. Features that infringe on U.S. patentholders' rights have to be left out of U.S. models. Very generally speaking, Japanese companies make "arrangements" over the sharing of patents. U.S. companies expect to be paid money. Often this keeps certain features out of the U.S. market. --Mike
