Are The Germans Alienating High End Buyers By Sacrificing Exclusivity For Volume?

Berlin-based PR executive Herbert Franz should be a soft target for German luxury automakers - his last car was a BMW X3 - but he can't wait to leave them behind. "This car is hip," said Franz, 52, at the city's biggest Jaguar Land Rover showroom, while eyeing a British-built Range Rover Evoque SUV that he fully intended to purchase. Decked out in bright red blazer and canary yellow trousers, Franz might not be the typical customer in Germany's conservative premium market. But his shifting taste in cars foreshadows less comfortable times ahead for global leader BMW, as well as Audi and Mercedes-Benz.
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Yonder7 - 8/25/2014 2:49:23 PM

-1 Boost

To be or not to be, otherwise... Koreans, Japanese and Chinese will own the world...

Car4Life - 8/25/2014 3:14:59 PM

+1 Boost

Only if they do not match their surge downmarket with a surge upmarket.

Mercedes has mastered this for every low end model they introduce (CLA & GLA), they match with a high end model shortley after (S CLass and MLC)

Benzes1 - 8/26/2014 2:14:56 AM

+2 Boost

Exactly.

MattDarringer - 8/25/2014 8:12:43 PM

0 Boost

Nope! They are playing the right cards.

Chip - 8/25/2014 8:45:35 PM

+2 Boost

They are definitely losing exclusivity. Every person on my block drives a bimmer, audi, merc, lexus and I live in a very middle class neighborhood in the midwest, no fancy houses but tons and tons of fancy cars. I think this will hurt them eventually. I think BMW in particular has lost all it's cachete, they're everywhere, like a German Toyota.

Benzes1 - 8/26/2014 2:18:00 AM

+2 Boost

No it won't because believe it or not, not everyone has a BMW, MB or Lexus still. Truth be told none of these cars have been truly exclusive for a long time now. In the 80's they were, but now they're not and it hasn't hurt them yet. It's all just nonsense talk. You have to get a certain MB, BMW or Audi that is exclusive, not just the brand. Not everyone has a SLS or S65 Coupe or a S600 sedan. Those are sort of exclusive, depending on your zip code. The brand, not so much and yet the S-Class is selling like hotcakes so no it isn't hurting them.

t_bone - 8/25/2014 10:17:24 PM

+2 Boost

I'm not one for the "exclusivity" card, that's not really a German car trait anyway. But the SUV's continue to tick me off. Even for those that like SUV's as a platform, it should be 100% clear that there is a "cost" to that. We've heard for years about rumors of various Porsche sports cars, including one slotting in below the Boxster. Well guess what - those development dollars went into SUV #2 for Porsche.

Oh, and money-wise, they'll win. Money always wins over good.

chewy - 8/25/2014 10:49:17 PM

+1 Boost

BMW, MB and Lexus have been selling about the same if not more than a few "middle ground" brands for a wile so it's not a surprise.