Are The Luxury Automakers Now Earning Their Money By Scraping The Bottom Of The Barrel?

Luxury-brand cars are enjoying strong sales because, well, their makers are cheating.

The bottom-feeder lux models — $31,000 to $35,000 or so to start — are drawing new buyers to luxury nameplates they now can afford. That's even though similarly priced mainstream-brand models are bigger, generally have lower fuel bills, and, in many cases, are every bit as luxurious.

They just don't have the right badge on the hood.

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carsnyc - 5/6/2015 3:52:06 PM

+2 Boost

Is Buick luxury? And don't get me wrong, I like Opels

Benzes1 - 5/6/2015 6:03:02 PM

-1 Boost

Buick is not luxury and Audi is the only one propped up by their entry level cars. MB and BMW are selling just as good at the upper end and middle, respectively. Mercedes in particular is doing well at the upper end with the S, AMG GT, and GL. The C has moved way up in price and is selling like hotcakes, but it has clearly taken a big bite out of the E-Class. The new E can't get here fast enough now.

gkearns56 - 5/7/2015 5:27:27 AM

-1 Boost

What are you smoking?

HoustonMidtown - 5/7/2015 8:09:44 AM

0 Boost

Um....remember the new CLA...pretty entry level if you ask me...

Benzes1 - 5/7/2015 5:45:52 PM

+2 Boost

Are you guys dumb or you just can't read? Read what the article says and then read what I said.

valhallakey - 5/6/2015 8:15:44 PM

+3 Boost

And they will start losing their cachet as well. Merc, BMW etc... Can charge a bit more just for the badge although until lately with the CLA and the coming FWD based 1 series they had the whole RWD = expensive vs FWD = econobox mindset thing going as well.

PUGPROUD - 5/6/2015 8:45:57 PM

+2 Boost

They are keeping their factories open and union peace by going down market after more volume. Profits are coming from premium higher priced market segments, China and selling options that can account for up to 33% of sales price. The day of reckoning will come when Chinese market and down market efforts are saturated and new high tech entrants (Apple, Tesla, Google) get their act together. There will be industry blood shedding never seen before...massive plant closings, significant downsizing and consolidations galore to try to capture volume and buy time.

MDarringer - 5/6/2015 8:57:52 PM

+1 Boost

Mercedes and BMW have no choice but to go down market. They they don't have VW under them like Audi does, but because BMW and Mercedes are going downmarket, Audi has to do a Golf/"Jetta" variant to keep up.

If anything, I think the Germans will siphon sales away from Buick, Mercury (oops I mean Lincoln), Honda (oops I mean Acura), and Subaru.

If I were Ford, I'd do a Lincoln Sentinel sedan based off the Focus ST/RS and do it ASAP even as a stopgap.

quizz - 5/7/2015 1:44:03 AM

+2 Boost

Porsche almost went bankrupt feeding only the high end; it was the low end Boxster and family friendly (also more affordable) Cayenne (and now Macan) that saved them. If Porsche was to attempt a $35,000 "starter" model, that would also sell like hotcakes.

pcar4evr - 5/7/2015 3:17:22 AM

+2 Boost

Interesting comment - I think a Porsche "Miata-killer" could be a winner. Porsche has already proven its ability to go into different markets without embarrassing the Porsche brand.

jeffy210 - 5/7/2015 10:39:34 PM

0 Boost

So here's what I don't get. BMW and Mercedes are only luxury in the USA. Go to Germany and you can get a 3er with cloth interior, manual and a small ass engine. Same for Mercedes. Why do people cling on to the notion that they have to be luxury. What if they were to bring their full line up over here.