It's all subjective but in the 1960s-1990s the Japanese never really modeled for the American market - their cars were designed for the Japanese urban environment to blend in or complement in Tokyo/Osaka/Yokohama. In the 1980s, they adopted hard edges, square/rectangular shapes and digital dashes. Japan flexed its electronics muscles then, Sony/Panasonic/Toshiba were at the top of their game, Korea was a me-too of Japan but Hyundai/Samsung/LG(Goldstar then) weren't near where they are today.
It wasn't until Toyota setup shop in SoCal with a design studio(Nissan and Honda then followed) that they truly localized or made a less nerdy/geeky looking car. The RA40 Celica of the late 1970s-early 1980s was the first Japanese car to be penned in the US. Toyota took a different approach with the Lexus LS400/Celsior - they designed it for the American landscape.
Now, the Japanese design for the American market with their US studios but their luxury cars have to appeal to the Chinese too - hence the "edgy" design Lexus and Acura are doing to court that market.
Originally Posted by Triplicate
Toyotas, save for the deliberately weird Prius, are pretty conservatively styled. When was the last time they restyled the Sequoia? 2005?
As a Prius driver I feel like a [censored] Star Wars geek driving it. I feel the Saab 900 Classic, Volvo 240/740, Prius, the 1st/2nd gen Insight were deliberately made to look geeky/nerdy for a reason. In the case of the Prius it makes sense from marketing/aerodynamic/packaging perspective. But the Prius' Cd isn't near the 1990-1994 LS400 which proves you can have a tasteful, conservative body shape and still slip through the wind. Saab wanted to link with their aerospace roots before GM [censored] them. Volvo did it for safety. The Insight was the first mass-market car outside of an Audi or the NSX to have an wholly aluminum body and chassis and Honda wanted it to cheat the wind.