Luxury-car buyers used to have fairly limited options–sumptuous sedans or speedy sports cars.
Now, carmakers are rolling out premium cars in nearly every niche. Last month’s Frankfurt auto show introduced a parade of compacts, convertibles, SUVs, station wagons and coupes aimed at upscale buyers.
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“This is how you get out of the rebate mud fight,” says Peter Soliman, an automotive consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton in Dusseldorf, Germany. “You build cars that, even if they seem a little weird, can command a higher price.”
Perhaps the most unlikely introduction in Frankfurt was a station wagon from Jaguar, a company better know for long-nosed, low-slung sports cars. For quick escapes from the supermarket parking lot, the Jaguar comes with a 156-horsepower V-6 engine giving it acceleration on par with other Jags. But it also has 50 cubic feet of cargo space and a roof rack.
Mark Fields, head of Ford Motor Co.’s Premier Automotive Group, which includes Jaguar, says the car’s stiffened body lets it corner smoothly even with the bulk of a wagon. The car will be available in the first half of 2004 in Europe. Jaguar has no plans to bring it to the U.S.
The Frankfurt show also brought big news for fans of the tiny, stylish Smart cars: There are plans to sell one in the U.S. Like BMW, which has had good success with its Mini, DaimlerChrysler AG will market its Smart cars as “lifestyle” products that are more of a reflection of the owner’s personality than an SUV or a minivan.
The Smart division introduced an upscale, four-door version of the popular compact, aptly named the ForFour. The ForFour will go on sale in Europe next year, and an SUV-like version will lead Smart’s entry into the U.S. in 2005.
Despite the ForFour’s diminutive size–it’s 148 inches long–it will try to command a premium. Price hasn’t been determined, but Smart’s two-passenger model sells for a couple thousand dollars more than other cars its size.
Volkswagen AG presented the Bugatti Veyron, whose 16-cylinder engine produces 1,001 horsepower. The Bugatti’s design harkens back to the 1930s. Volkswagen, which owns Bugatti, says the machine tops 251 m.p.hIts sticker price is expected to be $1 million at its expected debut in April.
Volkswagen also presented a roadster convertible, the Concept R. It features a midengine design, like the Porsche Boxster, which starts at about $45,000, but for about $10,000 less. VW has been pushing hard to turn the “people’s car” into more of a premium brand. Last year it introduced a $78,500 limousine, the Phaeton, due to arrive in the U.S. this year, and the Touareg, a $40,000 SUV that is available in the U.S. While VW hasn’t made a final decision on whether to produce the Concept R, it is leaning toward doing so, and bringing it to the U.S.
Volvo, which is owned by Ford, unveiled a the next-generation S40 compact sedan. Instead of taking on old foes BMW and Mercedes, Volvo thinks the S40 can pull buyers away from the stronger mass-market manufacturers such as Volkswagen and Honda Motor Co.
With an expected base price of about $22,500, the S40 is in the same range as the VW Passat and Honda Accord, and just below the entry models from Audi, BMW and Mercedes.
The S40 will be available late this year in Europe, and by summer in the U.S.