Are American car buyers really rethinking luxury?

http://autos.aol.com/article/are-american-car-buyers-really-re-thin...

Drew, this made me think of your excitement for the Hyundai Genesis....apparently modeled after the 5 series BMW. Often we buy the image in AMerica or what we know in our past history about the car....like our parents influence.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew on March 24, 2011 at 10:19pm

Ahhhhhhh!!! GREAT article. Interesting how the Genesis was mentioned in this. Along with all of the other brands. I still think the Genesis is an amazing ride.

The points in the article were all well taken. Basically saying that the new luxury vehicles (which they really do have all of the features and more of the established brands) still have a long way to go in the branding sense...

I think in 10 years we will start seeing a shift if they keep getting all the early adopters, AND more people talking about it on geargather.org!!!

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Permalink Reply by Zach G on March 25, 2011 at 9:24am

Here is a funny thing.....I saw that first picture in the article and thought it was a Hyundai Genesis.

Reversal of fortune..first thought is not how Hyundai has copied American or German, but discovering Chrysler appears to have copied Hyundai.

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Permalink Reply by Dustin on March 25, 2011 at 12:05pm

Zach - totally thought the same thing. Melissa - interesting article. I've found myself turning my head when a Gensis rolls by to look at the brand/model and discovering its a Hyundai. IMPRESSED!

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Permalink Reply by Melissa Curtin on March 25, 2011 at 12:50pm

That is funny because I thought the same thing, that that car above was the Genesis!

I think Drew is so right about marketing of those cars though, until they are considered "cooler" or the younger set buys into them, it is not the first car people I know are going to go look at or buy....even though it would make sense to. It is like the image has to change.....I can see how older people or people who don't live in cities don't care, but BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Range Rover and so on, have made their mark, esp here in LA. That is typically all you see. Interesting how saabs, peujeots (sp?) and volvos are HUGE in CT but you don't see often in Cali or LA Cali.

Old "woodies" have dominated the New England market too, esp Nantucket where that is all you see...

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Permalink Reply by ChrisZ on March 31, 2011 at 11:20am

American car buyers are not rethinking luxury. We are thinking, how are we going to continue to pay the prices for fuel in our cars. Trending is pushing back to smaller cars again. The sales of high end cars declined in CA by 25% in the last 45 days. While US automakers revamp the old muscle cars, some look really cool. Middle class, can't afford the fuel, insurance let alone the registration fees in California. I don't have any data on other states. Personally I'm ready to drag my 1970 204z out of the closet and drive it, as it gets about 35mpg, providing I behave.

I know my Z71 Tahoe, which I love, rides nice and handles the dirt roads well, but at 9mpg on the average, it is unreasonable to drive it. My Ford F250 Super Duty which I refer to as the junk machine, you can read on my blog about that mess later, the resell value of it is so low as the gas mileage is really bad. Dealers don't want to buy them, trade values are horrible. Truly a smart consumer would be looking at all the factors of our economy. California has always been known for the cars we drive. Fewer luxury cars are on the road as the new models hit the shelves in the last few years.

So yes, we are rethinking out here. Just so we can manage our budgets and get to work.