Separating True Luxury Brands from Pretenders

So Tesla is above MB then.
Its average selling price is $105,000 - only one model.

Ultra luxury I believe is the correct term there.

Bentley, Rolls Royce and Maybach are not "practical luxury", hence they're not on this list. Also, they don't sell that many cars in the US to begin with. Any car from those guys is already "exclusivity guaranteed".

You may need to check that statement. United States is the largest market for Bentley and Rolls Royce. China is second.

Aww Brutal Master BMW is not as luxurious as Mercedes!

Buick wants to go against true competition and prove they belong next to or competing with Lexus. Why go against brands that are not hitting their marks (Acura, Lincoln, Volvo).

Also on a different note. Where is Jaguar?

They sell fewer than 5,000 cars in the states. This list wasn't meant for the boutique luxury brands which would obviously have higher average prices. Jaguar/Land Rover and Porsche fall in between the luxury brands that sell more than 5,000 a month but more than the brands that only sell a few hundred a month (Bentley, Maserati and others)

Here is my list:

MB, Audi, BMW, Lexus, Infiniti, Cadillac, Jaguar. I put Lexus above Infiniti is because they don't have a MB S-Class, BMW 7-Series and Audi A8 competitor.

And what is the deal with Chrysler and Buick on the list? LMAO.......

Correction,

I put Infiniti below Lexus is because they don't have a MB S-Class, BMW 7-Series and Audi A8 competitor.

obviously that doesn't matter because their average selling price is lower so hardly anybody is buying the more expensive Lexus'.

so, average all the sales prices for every model and THAT IS IT? this is a scientific method to define the best luxury brand? is this a joke?

What about global significance, sales, profits per vehicle, actual luxury content, brand perception, quality, customer base, market share????

the only names that should be compared in the luxury category are Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Jaguar and MB ... and maybe Porsche (limited product offering may not qualify it though). The remaining brands are second Tier and are globally nowhere near close these top 4.

Per 009, where is Kia and Hyundai?

Hmmm,, interesting omission...

MeanVulcan is correct. BMW, Mercedes-Benz,Porsche & Jaguar. Toyota (Lexus), Honda (Acura) & (Nissan)Infiniti brands are just that as they do nt build cars. In retail they are what as know as commodity luxury. It is easy to sell and very difficult to sell against. You take very pedistrian products and slather on sound deading materials, state-of-the-art telematics, etc and try and beat your competition with price. And in marketing they use the word "luxury" over and over and sponsor lifestyle events to get people to buy in to it.

Cadillac is in the same boat as the Japanese. The compete on price in stead of just competeing. Audi has a lot of momentum worldwide as they have never really sold cars in larger volumes anywhere. And they also subscribe to commodity luxury and also fight a VW perception which is also true to a certain extent (read Q5.)

A luxury car has a lot a of attributes that are not really visable to the naked eye. So if Toyota uses a Camry, Nissan uses a 370Z platform and Honda uses an Accord platform just what is it about them that has inherent qualities in which to base a car that can stand up to cars with a pedigree. Not to say those are not good cars as they are very good but they are in no way on the level of BMW, Mercedes or Porsche for that matter. And where did the Tier 2 companies cut corners? The German cars are designed to perform in a very extreme environment which is the Autobahn even if they never drive on it. If you or you family are in an accident do you want a car that was built to handle a crash with an average of 55mph, or do you want one that is built to withstand a crash at 110mph which is the average speed on the Autobahn?

Since when is the average speed on the Autobahn 110mph? You are lucky to travel at 60kph (36mph) with the traffic on most days. Even in the unrestricted areas most drivers do not drive over 110mph. Furthermore, unless BMW and MB are using some new type of build material, I don’t believe they build their cars to withstand a 110mph crash. Bottom line, if you crash at 110....you die. I would estimate that 85% of the time travel on 95 along the east coast is moving just as fast as on the Autobahn...and I know this by experience.

Pure drivel! In Germany and Israel MB's are used as Taxi's. Police cars in Germany are usually BMW's or C class MB's.

1BadMan,

I totally disagree with you defining luxury for Just BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Jaguar. Regardless of how a vehicle is built and what platform it uses doesn't negate the fact that they can't be luxury. The same luxury concept applies whether one car is built off of another whether just brand or not. These luxury divisions certainly have vehicles that doesn't use any other platforms.

To me, the most boggling luxury car here is BMW and Porsche. Luxury is more than just driving, it's excess in every aspect. I relate BMW to a more sport oriented brand than luxury. And if you've purchases BMW's before, like I have, everything is practically an option and no luxury automaker should offer fake leather in the beginning. The next maker is Porsche, and honestly, up until they released the Porsche Cayenne and Porsche Panamera, they were more like sports cars, period! You couldn't get anything from them that had more than 2 doors and having loads of trunk space was never an option at all. I've also owned a Porsche myself. A Porsche Cayman S to be specific. I agree that you could equate pleasurable driving to luxury, but again, it's more than that. Then Lotus should be on this list, too, because it's a blast to drive one of them.