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prestige vehicles

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Prestige cars are vehicles that enjoy a high degree of esteem among the public, due to their high price and styling. Most prestige vehicles are proper luxury cars, however they can also be premium sports cars, such as Porsches, and high-end SUVs, such as the Hummer. The only attribute common among prestige vehicles are their relatively high price and often sophisticated quality as well as the high amount of esteem they enjoy and project upon the owner. There is however, no objective guideline as to what constitutes prestige on how to determine whether or not a veicle has prestige. The best indicators are press releases, the usage of the term luxury car, and the manner in which automobile manufacturers sell their cars. Prestige vehicles will usually have marketing hinting at their esteemed position within the automobile market.

Guidelines[edit]

Prestige cars are usually priced substantially above the average MSRP, as much of a car's prestige comes from its high price. In 2003 the average MSRP on a vehicle in the United States was $28,587.[1] Generally speaking the harder it is and the fewer people can afford a certain vehicle, the more prestige such a vehicle will have. All cars described as being luxury cars on sites such as Kelley Blue Book, can be assumed to be prestige cars as well. The term is however of subjective nature. Some might argue that entry-level luxury cars are prestige cars, others might beg to differ.

The label of "luxury car" which implies prestige is commonly applied to all vehicles manufactured by Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, Cadillac, Infiniti, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Maserati, Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, Panzon, Porsche, Rolls-Royce.[2] The entry-level vehicles such as the Mercedes-Benz C-Class or Lincoln Zephyr may not be counted as luxury vehicles despite being manufacturered by a luxury marque.[3][4] The GMC Yukon Denali, Volkswagen Phaeton and Volvo S80 and XC90 may also be considered luxury vehicles.[5][6][7]

Scarcity is another factor in determining prestige, as prestige decreases the more common a vehicle becomes. This rule mostly applies to classic vehicles whose prices and collection value, thus also prestige, increase with scarcity.

Non-luxury prestige vehicles[edit]

Some vehicles carry high MSRPs as well as a high amount of esteem among the public, yet fail to meet the comfort requirements of a proper luxury vehicles. The cars tend to be performance or utility oriented. Lotus for example sells performance vehicles in the luxury car price brackets, with all its vehicles featuring MSRPs of above $40k. The vehicles are, however not luxury cars since they fail to provide their occupants with sufficient comfort. Many Lotus vehicles do not even feature automatic window levers, a convenience feature standard on many subcompacts. The Hummer H1 is another example of a non-luxury prestige vehicle. The H1 enjoys a large amount of esteem among the public due to its $100k+ price tag, but fails to qualify as a luxury car.[2]

Prestige categories[edit]

While it is difficult, if not impossible to categorize the prestige enjoyed by the many different types of automobiles it can be easily agreed upon that with the great variety of prestige vehicles come several different types of prestige.

The degree of prestige enjoyed by a vehicle usually depends on the vehicle's pricing as well as its history and position in the manufacturer's line-up. This is why a Mercedes-Benz S-Class or Lincoln Town Car have far more prestige than a Volvo S60 or Acura TSX. Only the former two are listed as luxury cars according to Kelley Blue Book, while the latter two are omitted, presumably due to their status as non-luxury vehicles.[2]

Some type of prestige is usually enjoyed by some entry-level luxury cars as well as semi-luxury prestige cars and brands. Semi-luxury vehicles such as the Acura TSX, Volvo S60, and proper luxury car such as the Lincoln Zephyr, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, or Lexus IS can be found in this category.

Ultra The Ultra luxury segment is probably the only prestige category with roughly the same pricing guidelines as the Ultra Luxury Car Segment, which describes vehicles priced above $90k. This category includes the A8 W12, Mercedes S600, BMW 760, as well as the entire line-up of all marques who exclusively sell vehicles priced in excess of $90k such as Bugatti, Maserati, Lamborghini, Ferrari, as well as Bentley, Rolls-Royce, and Maybach.

The Ford GT and Dodge Viper are the only Ultra prestige vehicles manufactured by neither a luxury car manufacturer nor a marque exclusively selling vehicles which carry a base MSRP of $90k.

Luxury fleet vehicles[edit]

An interesting obstacle in determining a vehicle's prestige may be its fleet use. While many state that a vehicle being used extensivley as a fleet vehicle reduces its market standing, one needs to consider that expensive luxury cars may be used as police cruisers, taxies and other rental cars. The Cadillac DTS and Lincoln Town Car are for example frequently used as livery and rental cars. The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is the de-facto taxi-cab in Germany and is also heavily used as a police cruiser. The BMW 5-Series, Range Rover, and Toyota Crown (Lexus LS in the US) may also be used as police cruisers and other government vehicles. Many luxury cars with prices well in excess of $40,000 serve purposes one may not commonly expect from such vehicles; thus further complicating any attempts to define prestige. Yet despite their rather humble fleet use all of the vehicles mentioned above are classified as being true luxury cars and command prices far above average.[2] Additionally luxury marques such as Lincoln, BMW or Mercedes-Benz market their vehicles differently to private customers than to fleet consumers. For example a police E-Class might differ in its appointments from one sold to civilian consumers.

List of prestige marques[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Average MSRP according to Edmunds.com. URL accessed on 2006-09-07.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 List of luxury car makers, according to kbb. URL accessed on 2006-09-06.
  3. ↑ C-Class not a luxury car? KBB. URL accessed on 2006-09-06.
  4. ↑ Lincoln Zpehyr not a luxury car? KBB. URL accessed on 2006-09-06.
  5. ↑ GMC Denali a luxury car. URL accessed on 2006-09-06.
  6. ↑ VW Pheaton a luxury car. URL accessed on 2006-09-06.
  7. ↑ Volvo S80 and XC90 luxury cars. URL accessed on 2006-09-06.

External links[edit]

This article contains content from Wikipedia. Current versions of the GNU FDL article Prestige vehicles on WP may contain information useful to the improvement of this article WP
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