Gap between Mainstream and Luxury Cars Shrinking to Unbelievable Levels

The day could arrive soon when a new class of auto buyers starts considering the luxury cars with a choices starting at as low as $30,000, and the million dollar question would then be the choice between options like the tiny Mini Cooper or the fully-loaded Ford Focus.

Luxury car manufacturers already are making a living in the United States on their smaller vehicles, like BMW 3 Series. Americans are more interested in compact or subcompact entries and have started to display concept versions of remarkably smaller vehicles in the auto show lineup. On the other hand, mainstream manufacturers, like Ford are now adding some features on their smaller vehicles and trying to increase the prices to boost the profit margins. Detroit automakers are hoping to boost the profit of small car segment to balance the loss of their huge earnings that they got from SUVs or big trucks during earlier times, because their demands have gone down drastically.

Car purchasers, to a greater extent, will need to decide whether they should value a premium company enough to sacrifice size and possibly well-equipped amenities they could get from the non-luxury marquees for the same amount. Industry experts believe that it is a strange area, and deciding on pure luxury and mainstream brands can be quite a tricky affair. A tiny car may not work or decline the value of the luxury companies by making it inexpensive.

The 2012 LA auto show is going to host debuts of a number of mainstream and high-end small cars, showing the market’s battle for lead in the fuel efficient sector. Ford Motors thinks that execution and design, rather than the brand can dominate the future.

The redesigned version of the 2013 Fusion sedan is attracting a notable number of exchanges from Audi, Acura, and BMW owners. It is said that half of its yearly sales are from non-Ford customers and majority of them are former luxury brand owners. Talking about the top-of-the0line Fusion Titanium, the executive director of the automaker’s North American division, Frank Davis said Titanium model would be sold to BMW, Audi, or Acura buyers as at $40,000, it is gets optional AWD and many other latest features.

BMW’s 128 coupe is priced at $32,000 and it shares its chassis with the Mini models. It is a remarkable illustration of how desperate the luxury brands are, to play in the lower end market

|[tradewatchmedia.com]