Premium Car Sales Boost Fueled Primarily By Lower End Models

Are we surprised? When Mercedes released the 190E, AKA "The Baby Mercedes," it became an instant success for those who wanted to join the club, but for whom the admission price was a barrier. Ditto with Porsche's Boxster.

In my opinion, virtually any car company should be able to create a "good" car that costs $80,000. But making a wonderful car that sells for $40,000, or say $35,000, now *that's* impressive! I tip my hat respectively to those who pull this off.

Sorry but you are wrong a Ghost cost 300k

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2010-rolls-royce-rr4.htm

none the less people buy new BMW/and MB's mainly for exclusivity they just happen to also be great performance or track cars as well when the big timmers see the small fries in there brand the big timmers will look for another avenue of exclusivity.

If I am the gut spending 80k, I would feel short changed buy hearing some kid say "Yea I drive a BMW/MB and paid the price of a high end Toyota for it.

well, I guess BMW and Benz could sell only $80k+ vehicles if they wanted to sell the same kind of volumes as Maserati. Not sure how great of a business plam that is though. Just out of curiosity, even if every new BMW or Benz did start at $80k, what would you do about used ones? Are these uber expensive cars just supposed to be scrapped when the original owners are done with them so people can't get used ones at "high end Toyota" prices?

so watering down the brand image with cheap cars that ruins the buyer exclusivity is a good business model?

Can you Imagine a 150k baby phantom on the market? how many buyers would buy it, and how many wealthy buyers seeing this will continue to buy the
400k real phantom when they see they no longer has as much brand exclusivity as they once had?

yes, expanding your market is a good business model if you don't want to get bought up by someone else who does exactly that. How many of those boutique brands are standalone? Rolls Royce, Bentley, Maserati, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Porsche, Aston Martin, etc. are ALL owned by other brands. BMW and Benz don't want to be owned by anyone, and that's what would happen if they only sold $80k+ cars, because they'd only sell a fraction of the cars they sell now.

Listen, you want to be an idealist. Good for you, I applaud it. But BMW, Benz, Audi, etc. aren't trying to be boutique brands, so your ideals don't work for them. I'm not advocating bringing out "cheap cars", but selling entry level vehicles that are still expensive so that people can "climb the ladder" as their wealth increases? Not a bad idea. As for the "who's going to buy a $400k Phantom when there's a $150k Phantom on the market" -- um, there already is one. It's called a Ghost. And it's selling like hotcakes. And it's not stopping uber rich people from buying the $400k Phantom, just like the existence of the "cheap" 3-Series and C-class don't stop people from buying 7's and S's.

Sorry but you are wrong a Ghost cost 300k

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2010-rolls-royce-rr4.htm

none the less people buy new BMW/and MB's mainly for exclusivity they just happen to also be great performance or track cars as well when the big timmers see the small fries in there brand the big timmers will look for another avenue of exclusivity.

"none the less people buy new BMW/and MB's mainly for exclusivity they just happen to also be great performance or track cars as well when the big timmers see the small fries in there brand the big timmers will look for another avenue of exclusivity."

I hate to burst your bubble but there are only a handful of truly "exclusive" BMW's or Benz's, and those wouldn't exist without the profits from all those 3's/5's and C's/E's making it possible. Benz and BMW need those cars. People who don't want to rub elbows with the serfs in their "cheap" BMW's and Benz's can spend a whole lot more money for something truly exclusive and get a Rolls, Bentley, Maybach, etc. That's why those brands exist. It is NOT why BMW and Benz exist (but it IS why BMW owns Rolls, VW owns Bentley, and Benz owns Maybach).