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• Luxury vehicle

Luxury car or luxury vehicle is a marketing term for a vehicle that provides luxury — pleasant or desirable features beyond strict necessity at increased expense (see: definition of luxury).

The term suggests a vehicle with greater equipment, performance, construction precision, comfort, design ingenuity, technological innovation, or features that convey brand image, cachet, status, or prestige—or any other discretionary feature or combination of features. Luxury cars also offer a higher degree of comfort than their mainstream counterparts as well as a highly sumptuous interior with a strong emphasis on design and beauty, with features such as interior leather and polished "woodgrain-look" dashboards are common amenities. Some automakers develop luxury or halo vehicles from their mass production models by product differentiation, effective marketing mix modifications (particularly by charging a higher price for relatively minor changes and use of more up-market advertising), and buyer driven market segmentation through product placement. As a result, "luxury" is sometimes only in the perception of the consumers.

The term may be applied to any vehicle type—from minivan to convertible, crossover or sport utility vehicle and to any size vehicle, from small to large—in any price range.

International Classification

According to the European Comission, the "luxury vehicle" segment is classified as F-segment. However, the boundaries between the traditional segments are increasingly becoming blurred and diluted as features once exclusive to luxury vehicles become standard equipment on even small cars.

• ACRISS is a code system used by many car rental companies in the US for classifying vehicles (but not brands or marques). The system includes Luxury and Premium categories.
• Australia In Australia, for taxation purposes a luxury car is defined as a passenger car whose value exceeds a certain threshold (see: Luxury Car Tax).
• Germany: In Germany the term "Upper class" (Template:Lang-de) is used.
• Russia: Russian markets use the term "representative class vehicle" (Template:Lang-ru, also translated as "luxury vehicle").

Luxury market segments

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Consumer Guide's categorization which sorts luxury vehicles by size acknowledges that there can be considerable price variations within a class; for instance the Lincoln Town Car has a relatively low MSRP compared to the BMW 7 Series, Lexus LS, or Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

Entry-level luxury

The entry-level luxury category is also known as the compact executive car in Britain and (Mittelklasse in German). In the US, this segment mostly includes the bottom vehicles in the line-up of luxury brands as well as the top-of-the-line models of some non-luxury brands.

Examples include the Alfa Romeo 159, Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class which particuarly emphasize sporty handling. Other vehicles such as the Lexus ES and Acura TL are also considered entry-level luxury as well, though they do not fall under European luxury classifications, as they are larger and not sold there.

Recently, the entry-level luxury has been very competitive, and there has been price-overlapping with well-equipped non-luxury cars.

Mid-luxury segment

The mid-luxury segment are commonly referred to as executive cars in Britain, Obere Mittelklasse in German, and Grandes Routières in French. Examples include the Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, and Mercedes-Benz E-Class

Vehicles in this segment include the mid-range models of several luxury car manufacturers.

There are also some flagship sedans in this segment, such as the Acura RL and Infiniti M35/45.

High-end luxury segment

The British describe this class merely as luxury cars, "Oberklasse" is used in Germany. Vehicles in this category include some of the models from the flagship lines of luxury car brands. Examples include the Audi A8, BMW 7 Series, and Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

Ultra-luxury segment

This segment includes the entire lineup of Rolls Royce, Bentley, Maserati, Aston Martin and Maybach.

History

The three major Japanese auto manufacturers, Honda, Toyota, and Nissan, created their respective luxury brands particularly for the US market. As a result of voluntary export restraints imposed in 1981, these manufacturers were limited to a number of vehicles they could export. While these companies did somewhat sidestep this by estabilishing US production facilities, their home factories soon begun higher-priced vehicles as they carried a greater profit margin per car. Acura was launched in 1986, while Lexus and Infiniti were unveiled in 1989. By 1992, these three divisions sold over US $3.5 billion worth of automobiles, stealing market share from both domestic (Cadillac, Lincoln) and the European (Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, BMW and Jaguar) luxury car makers.

Sales

In the U.S. luxury market, Cadillac and Lincoln had been long the best-selling and second best-selling luxury brands until 1998, when they had been overtaken by Japanese and German brands.

Despite the Late-2000s recession, luxury vehicle sales have not collapsed as much as their non-luxury counterparts.

In Canada, several luxury manufacturers set sales records in August 2009, due mostly to aggressive incentives on entry-level luxury vehicles.

See also

• Luxury SUV
• Personal luxury car
• Halo vehicle
• Sports sedan

References

1. "Kelly Blue Book, Lincoln Town Car, example of a luxury car". Retrieved 2007-01-13.
2. ^ High-End and Mid-level Luxury Definition
3. "Consumer Behaviour of Luxury Automobiles:A Comparative Study between Thai and UK Customers' Perceptions" (PDF). mubs.mdx.ac.uk. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
4. "Consumer Behaviour / Luxury Automobiles" (PDF). J. Anurit, K. Newman, B. Chansarkar.
5. http://ec.europa.eu/competition/mergers/cases/decisions/m1406_en.pdf
6. "Merger Decision IV/M.1326 of 06/11/1998" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-09-10.
7. http://ec.europa.eu/competition/mergers/cases/decisions/m5219_20080925_20310_en.pdf
8. "Luxury Car Tax" Australian Customs Notice - 2001/58, 1st September 2001, retrieved on 2008-05-24.
9. Bills Digest No. 159 1998-99, A New Tax System (Luxury Car Tax) Bill 1999, retrieved on 2008-05-24
10. Car of the Year Russia Template:Ru icon
11. ^ "The Consumer Guide to 2009 Premium Large Cars". Consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com. 2008-10-30. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
12. "The Consumer Guide to 2009 Premium Compact Cars". Consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com. 2008-10-30. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
13. "2010 Buick LaCrosse CXS vs. 2009 Lexus ES 350 Comparison Test and Video on Inside Line". Edmunds.com. 2009-08-30. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
14. "BMW » Test Drive: 2009 BMW 328i xDrive". CanadianDriver. 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
15. "How Mercedes got its groove back". Financialpost.com. 2009-06-06. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
16. ^ Van, Nicolas (2009-06-04). "Luxury makers smash August sales records in Canada". Ottawacitizen.com. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
17. "The Consumer Guide to 2009 Premium Midsize Cars". Consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com. 2008-10-30. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
19. John O'Dell (1999-05-06). "Cadillac Apologizes to Lincoln for Inflating Sales Numbers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
20. (AFP) – 2 days ago. "AFP: Drop in Germany luxury car sales eases". Google.com. Retrieved 2009-09-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
21. "Recession not a roadblock for luxury-car sales - Triangle Business Journal:". Bizjournals.com. 2008-11-28. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
22. Canada. "Incentives are 'an expensive way to sell'". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2009-09-10.

• Car classifications
• Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers
• Luxury vehicles