We like to think of TTAC as something of the thinking (wo)man’s car blog: sure, we’ll try to drive the hot cars, but we’ll be just as interested in their history, sales and cultural context as their 0-60 time. One of the ways we like to help contextualize these, the most emotional artifacts of our material culture, is by breaking them down into their unforgiving sales numbers. In addition to our now-normal monthly binge of sales graphs, we will try to bring you one graph per day, illustrating a previously unexplored view of the market for automobiles. Today, we start with Luxury Crossovers, a segment invented by its current chapion, the Lexus RX.
What will tomorrow’s Chart Of The Day be? Email us at editors@ttac.com, and let us know what models, segments or brands you want to see compared.
I’m not quite sold on your segmentation here – ask an Acura dealer or a Lexus dealer what Acura model best competes with the RX and they’ll say the MDX.
The problem is that the RX, MKX, and SRX all fall in between this class and the next one up.
While sizes are a bit hard to pin down in this area, this is how I see it:
Small CUVs -> RDX, Q5, GLK, XC60, EX, X3
Medium CUVs -> MDX, MKX, RX, FX, SRX, X5
SUVs -> GL, M, Q7, LR4, Ranger Rover (& Sport), etc.
The line between the crossovers and SUVs is a bit muddy though. Typically you’d say a SUV would require a body on frame construction and rear wheel drive, but more and more capable SUVs are coming out as unibody construction. I think FWD automatically qualifies something as a Crossover, but possibly you can be RWD and still be a crossover, because the BMW X3 and X5 are more crossoverish than SUVish.
Emails to editors@thetruthaboutcars.com aren’t working, so here’s my request for the next chart: any chance you could do $30-$40k entry-level luxury, ie BMW 3-series and everyone else gunning for a piece of that pie? For completeness sake, include cars that normally aren’t positioned against the 3-series despite being a similar price (Lexus ES and Lincoln MKZ, for example) just as a sense of their relative market sizes; I’d be curious to see how the sporty vs unsporty dichotomy plays out in the real world.
Sorry, that’s editors@ttac.com… and duly noted.
You mean the baleen-whale-faced MKT hasn’t stolen the category yet? For shame.
Hmm…
I sent a link to a story through the contact page coming on 2 weeks now.. about ideas on a few stories.. and I havent heard anything back.
Id also like to know.. about luxo wagons.. and or a comparo in price between the CTS wagon.. and that Equinox in razorblades SRX.
I agree with the other comments about how to divide up segments; I was surprised to see so many “compact” crossovers lumped in with the RX. No wonder the RX looks so good on this chart!
I say, when in doubt, just include it. It’s okay if you include a vehicle on more than one graph.
Calling the Mercury Mariner a luxury anything is generous.
I didn’t realize how much the RX dominated the class; I knew it sold in big numbers for a luxury car, but jeez. Then again just about all the other cars on the chart aside from the SRX (which seems to be doing pretty well) and Mariner are pretty niche-y.
No Enclave? Best crossover yet!
Too big. Enclave is a 3-row hauler that competes with Q7 / X5 and other big boys.
The Acura MDX, Audi Q7, and Buick Enclave are all ‘luxury crossovers.’ Is this a sales chart for ‘entry luxury crossovers’? I suppose that would explain why the Mercury Mariner is there.
Agree – they title needs to be changed on this chart to Entry Level Luxury crossovers b/c the CUVs on there are not Luxury Crossovers.
We sold 15 Mazda CX-9 Grand Tourings last month. Average transaction price around 37K. Rumor has that we destroyed the MDX, RDX, EX, FX, etc. But not the Rx…that’s a strong product.
Most sales improvement from 2009 to 2010: Cadillac SRX.
Pardon me while I choke on my oatmeal. The last SRX was in all ways less bland (perhaps one of the best “Art and Science” pieces), was rear-wheel-drive, and based solely on a Cadillac platform. The new one has the heart of a Chevy minivan. I guess that makes it far more like the RX… Sad.
Would seem to me that Ford is killing the wrong luxo brand. Sales-wise, you know.
Kinda like when GM killed Olds. It was outselling Buick over the course of the final year of its existance.