Industry News: Not Surprising: Luxury Brands Sales Up Due To Low-Cost Models

[William Maley]

One group of automakers that are on the up and up are luxury automakers. Just take a look at April's sales,

• Porsche - Up 28.1% (5,217 Vehicles Sold This Month, 16,647 Vehicles Sold So Far This Year)
  
• Lincoln - Up 19.6% (8,134 Vehicles Sold This Month, 29,612 Vehicles Sold So Far This Year)
  
• Cadillac - Up 13.7% (15,801 Vehicles Sold This Month, 52,976 Vehicles Sold So Far This Year)
  
• Mercedes-Benz - Up 12.8% (29,188 Vehicles Sold This Month, 107,344 Vehicles Sold So Far This Year)
  
• Lexus - Up 11.7% (25,876 Vehicles Sold This Month, 103,056 Vehicles Sold So Far This Year)
  
• Maserati - Up 10% (1,060 Vehicles Sold This Month, 2,989 Vehicles Sold So Far This Year)
  
• Infiniti - Up 8.8% (9,979 Vehicles Sold This Month, 43,821 Vehicles Sold So Far This Year)
  
• BMW - Up 6.9% (26,952 Vehicles Sold This Month, 105,444 Vehicles Sold So Far This Year)
  
• Acura - Up 5.3% (14,874 Vehicles Sold This Month, 54,518 Vehicles Sold So Far This Year)
  
• Jaguar - Up 4.3% (1,079 Vehicles Sold This Month, 5,415 Vehicles Sold So Far This Year)
  

So why the bump? USA Today says for most luxury automakers, it comes down to low-end models.

"Luxury sales have increased as products have become affordable to a wider audience. Of late, luxury car brands have focused on the lower end of the price spectrum, introducing models such as the Lexus NX, Mercedes-Benz GLA, BMW X1 and Porsche Macan, which are slotted below existing popular SUVs on the price spectrum," said Edmunds.com's senior analyst Jessica Caldwell.

Caldwell goes onto say that the majority of luxury vehicles are leased, which makes low-end luxury vehicles very appealing to consumers who have gone with mainstream vehicles before.

Also helping matters is a wide range of consumers who are buying these models.

"Buyers are coming from all over the place, especially as Millennials start to create more wealth for themselves and continue to be as aspirational as ever," said Akshay Anand, ​analyst at Kelley Blue Book.

Source: USA Today

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[regfootball]

german marques whore out their cheap cars for the poseurs

[smk4565]

But they'll keep those X1 and GLA buyers and move them up the ladder.  The Best selling Mercedes SUV is the ML, and the E-class when new is often their best selling car, so their middle models still sell well.

 

The Lexus NX has allowed them to push the RX into the $45k range and it still sells well.  The ATS is just as cheap as a GLA or NX or X1, Cadillac just isn't getting big volume out of it like other lux brands are.