This relates to your third point - and even though I'm from Australia I hope it's relevant...
We have a RX400h that's six years old and has 137,000km on the clock. Recently the hybrid system's inverter failed - luckily we were not moving at the time. I've been told that this part alone costs around $11,500 but in other markets (US and Canada for example) the complete hybid system (inverter and batteries) is covered by a 96-month, 100,000 miles warrantee. That warrantee was brought into Australia after we purchased our (then new) RX400h but our car falls under those conditions (age and mileage).
Any suggestions please?