Ford Exec Admits Lincoln Is Not True Luxury - What Other Brands Could Fall Victim To The Same Claim?

True Luxury: Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Land Rover

Imitation Luxury: Audi(Volkswagen), Infiniti(Nissan), Acura(Honda), Lexus(Toyota), Cadillac(GM), Lincoln(Ford)

Stop It: Buick, Hyundai, Chrysler

Maybe "entry-level luxury"...like a base, no-options C-class or 3-series. Many other luxury brands like Acura, Infiniti, & Buick play-up the sporty features with a few high-end surfaces to seem more luxury-like. Having high-end content (stereo, wheels, DVD-Nav) doesn't necessary mean luxury. But when vehicle prices approach & exceed $50k...that's luxury money...just depends on what you get for that level of coin spent.

Audi is NOT "perceived luxury," but rather a "true luxury" brand. If you need proof, just check the interiors, customer demographic data and recent comparison test results.

I'm sure that will make you reassess your original claim, Car4Life.

Audi isn't a true luxury brand. True luxury brands don't sell cheap cars, like the A1 (cheaper than the Honda Civic & the Hyundai Veloster, 0-60 in over 10 seconds). Not Infiniti, Acura, Lincoln, Lexus, Buick, or any brand mentioned above. Not even Hyundai. Hyundai's own imitation "luxury" cars don't even come close to being that cheap.

Agree with everything except Audi not being true luxury. Their interiors are great and they are very well put together. Performance is quite impressive as well.

10 years? Tesla took a whopping 2 years at 25% of the investment. Lexus took 3 years.

Ford can do it in 3 years or less if it's willing to write off the entire Lincoln line-up, sell them at cost to clear inventory, and invest in only 2 models in 3 years to compete with Tesla sedans on one end and X5/ML/Q7 SUVs on the other. That's it - focus on 2 models with the most appeal to the luxury buying class: the male executive and his wife.

Luxury garden apartments, $500/mo. Move right in (and don't mind the rats)! ;)

What is luxury anyway?

There's no future for Lincoln. Not now or in 10 years. Please close shop and long live the memories of the 60's with their suicide doors.

I think the term "luxury" has become quite diluted in the past couple of decades.

I agree with the quote from the article that states, "the traditional definition of luxury has a degree of exclusivity". I would also add that "luxury" should be defined in terms of opulence and extravagance. With that in mind the list of brands/models would be extremely short.

True luxury brands don't advertise "attractive" lease specials or buy radio ads that say if you can afford a Honda Accord, you could be driving a(a three-pointed star vehicle).

Only luxury marques that still exist are:

Aston Martin
Bentley
Bugatti
Ferrari
Lamborghini
McLaren
Pagiani
Rolls Royce

maybe, maybe Porsche

@MorePower, I couldn't agree with you more. The "old luxury marques" have continually cheapened their image through financing offers that are not much more than non-luxury offers. When cars are a dime-a-dozen, the exclusivity is gone and that holds trues for all of them, not just the "three pointed star".

That being said, I don't agree that Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, or Pagiani are "luxury" marques. "Exotic" and "exclusive", yes. "Luxurious", not really.

GreenMachine, I can see why you don't run a multi-billion dollar auto company. In Audi's eyes, "luxury" is more than price. Luxury is materials quality, design, aesthetic, efficiency and a certain "attitude" reflected in the brand's image of being the "young and hip" alternative to old-man Mercedes-Benz and poseur, road-raging BMW drivers.

You may think luxury's sole determinant is price. Fortunately for Audi and its investors, Audi's CEO and senior management team does not agree with your assessment and is the reason why the A1 was created in the first place.

You see the A1 as dilution of Audi's brand image while Audi sees it a fantastic opportunity to offer what it considers a "luxury" vehicle at a more affordable price than its competitors offerings to a group of buyers that are looking for luxury at an affordable price.

BMW's delay to move downmarket will cost it the title of world's best selling premium brand. Label it as "Audi selling out in the name of global sales volume" all you want. Audi will label it as serving an underserved part of the market while increasing revenue and profitability.

Germannut, what's with the biased "old-man Mercedes" and "road-raging BMW drivers" slogans?

Why do Audi fans have to constantly talk down other brands?

Carsnyc, unfortunately Audi fans must talk down other brands to feel more secure about their luxurious jettas and passats

No, Cars4Life, I was responding to GreenMachine's biased claim that, Audi isn't a true luxury brand

Instead of making up claims like, "Carsnyc, unfortunately Audi fans must talk down other brands to feel more secure about their luxurious jettas and passats," the way Cars4Life does, I instead use factual evidence to support my claims.

For example, Mercedes-Benz's average owner age is 52, 3-4 years older than BMW or Audi's average customer.

"In the U.S., the average age of a Mercedes owner is 52, three to four years older than the typical driver who steers toward BMW or Volkswagen's VOW3.XE +1.10% AG's Audi, according to researcher R.L. Polk & Co. The German luxury-sedan stalwart is losing even more of those younger buyers to rivals' sport utility vehicles and smaller sedans. That is a problem especially in new luxury markets such as China, where the average millionaire is in his or her early 40s."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324235104578241481012862470.html

BMW drivers are bad drivers as proven by two studies:

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/08/13/bmw-drivers-really-are-jerks-studies-find/?link=sfmw

Audi fans only talk down other brands when the fanboys of those other brands start provoking Audi fans the way GreenMachine did. If GreenMachine kept his mouth shut, I wouldn't have responded with my factual evidence attacking Mercedes-Benz drivers as being old and BMW drivers as jerks.

Hey hey, it's not my fault the Audi A1 came into existence, so no need to displace your frustrations or attacks at me.

Is it not a fact, that the A1 is a cheap car which other "luxury" carmakers don't make? A cheap car that Audi sells by the hundreds of thousands every year? Or a rebadged VW Polo that does 0-60 in over 10 seconds? Is it not cheaper than the Veloster, Golf, Scion FR-S, Civic, and the Camry? Factual evidence.

So BMW drivers in the UK are rage drivers? Well according to the UK article, Audi isn't painted in the best light either.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2390373/BMW-drivers-really-aggressive-drivers-prone-road-rage-wheel.html
Top five worse cars for the road rage drivers:
1. BMW (32%)
2. Land Rover (35%)
3. Audi (29%)
4. Subaru (22%)
5. Vauxhall (18%)

I don't drive in the UK, but if a US survey found that 30% of Audi drivers here road rage? Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised.

@Nuttie, the fact is, GreenMachine said NOTHING about Mercedes or BMW, yet you chose to bring them into the discussion, with "factual" insults. Why not (and this goes for your Audi-butt-buddy Satriani, too) stick to the merits of Audi instead of using insults of other brands to make your point? And, yes, that could have easily been done in your response to GreenMachine.
And if you view 52 year old buyers as "old men" but 48 year old buyers as "young men" (not that you said that, but your own words alluded to that distinction), then you're truly more delusional than I even thought.