Has The Age Of The "Premium" Brand Already Come And Gone?

Let me guess, because Hyundai was a gamechanger?

Sorry but people will still pay premiums for the same car if it has the right name on it.

However, these names will be damaged if they start doing more of this type of discounting and moving demand forward.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-31/mercedes-dangles-5-000-vip-discounts-to-hold-u-s-lead-over-bmw.html

I agree with his point, to a degree. Yes, the Germans are definitely getting deeper into a market segment that is diluting their prestige, without question. But until Ford builds a car to directly compete successfully with the 3/4/5/6/7/X5/X3/Z4, A4/A5/A6/A7/A8/TT/R8/Q3/Q5/Q7, C/E/S/CL/SL/SLS/SLK/M/GLK/GL/G classes, then it's a mute point.

It's an interesting perception that may only exist for those who see luxury in terms of technology features, basic performance, and the superficial elements of style. For others, qualitative details matter. In other words, you can call a Taurus a luxury car (and Enterprise tried to tell me it was) because you can get it and just about every other car with navigation, leather, wood trim, more power than is usable, and nice styling, but you'd be wrong. Luxury will still distinguish itself in terms of the underlying quality and rarity of materials, workmanship, and intangibles such as heritage and image.

In the end, if you claim your product is as luxurious as a competitor's, it has to be measured by the premium others will pay for it over theirs. If you dismiss this premium as irrational consumer behavior, then you haven't quite figured it out.

The perfect example is the proverbial luxury apartments for rent that are anything but luxury.

I would also add that luxury applies not only to the specifics of the car, including performance, reliability, and age, but also the whole ownership and driving experience. That includes sales and service.

yes, it's being driven not by the MARKET but by GOVERNMENT POLICY. the massive increases in CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards in the coming years has made it impossible to be a standalone luxury/premium brand. all manufacturers MUST sell high mileage cars to balance out their performance/premium cars.

The super rich will buy super premium cars (Bentley, RR, etc) while tight incomes will further squeeze out premium brands (the middle class of automobiles so to speak) and is the reason manufacturers are moving
way up and way down market to caputure profits on the high end and revenues on the low end in an effort to keep factories open.

PUGPROUD: The Smartest conclusion...

Ford is entitled to their "opinion". My opinion is that they feel the threat of German brands moving into their price range turf and feel compelled to attack them with whatever nonsense they can come up with.

Now, given a comparable (in price) german brand and a Ford, the german will always be considered luxury for the many reasons spoken about here. The Ford is still a Ford, an average econo car. It does not matter about the content of the luxury amenities, geesh! nowadays even Hyundais come with Nav systems! I second the notion that Ford still does not understand how to market to the luxury segment. All it seems to be doing is defending its own market.

More than ever, there is a difference between german luxury and Ford type cars, or Cadillacs... just look at how Cadillac and other american brands market their cars, as "studied in European roads" or "road tested at the Ring" (Nurburgring race circuit in Germany that is), or "engineered in Europe", or "European styling". To me this type of marketing only serves the germans. Why buy a european imitation when you can own the real thing - dumbass Ford/GM marketing strategies!!!