Throughout the month, TTAC tries to go back to recent sales numbers in hopes of providing greater context for the industry’s day-to-day decisions. On the first of each month, however, we get so overwhelmed with volume numbers, we thought we’d take this opportunity to explore the price-volume frontier. Inspired by recent rumors of a 120k unit production goal for the $41k Volt and the ensuing discussion of the BMW 3 Series’ unique position on the price-volume frontier, we thought we’d feel around the data for this mythical plateau. Sadly our unsophisticated graphing software (and overworked editor) didn’t allow for a more full exploration of high-priced vehicles reaching near-mass-market volumes, so we put together a “basket” of higher-priced, strong-selling models. And though we obviously cherry-picked a little, we did use four manufacturers to indicate an approximate “delta” between price (base MSRP) and volume (2010 numbers). Are there outliers to our “price-volume frontier”? Possibly. Did we leave out the most interesting area of the graph (the mass-market vehicles) Definitely. But in the process we have hopefully proved that selling over 100k units of a vehicle costing $40k or more is not a goal to be taken lightly.

Yes, everyone loves to hate on the BMW 3 Series’ success… but nobody loves to hate it like the Mercedes C63 AMG. And with a new version for 2012, Benz’s Bavarian-burner has about as good a shot as anything else on the market of convincing Mr Prospective Sports Sedan Buyer out of an M3. Meanwhile, it also serves as a stern, 481 HP warning to Jaguar, Cadillac and the assorted Dreier-chasers: when you’re chasing such a coveted market segment, you have to go big or go home [nauseating technical details for the 2012 C-Class can be found here].

Poor Ford. As the latest sales data shows, its lone luxury brand Lincoln is one sick puppy. Lincoln’s best-selling vehicles are its entry-level models, the MKZ and MKX, indicating that killing Mercury still has yet to bring higher-end buyers to Lincoln showrooms. Higher-end products like MKS and MKT are dead in the water, failing to crack 1,000 monthly units combined in January. Pull out the dying Town Car and Navigator, and Lincoln moved less volume last month than the subcompact Fiesta. And though Ford acknowledges that it has a problem at Lincoln, managers have hardly been forthcoming about what it plans to do to fix the problem. Which, as far as TTAC is concerned is fine… Ford doesn’t have to convince us that Lincoln is coming back. It does, however, have to convince Lincoln dealers to stay on board… and because they’re playing with their own money, that’s a trickier task. Ford’s Jim Farley tells Automotive News [sub] that

My experience is that if you cannot show concretely that you have to spend x amount of resources and you get this out of it in terms of volume, margin and profit, they’ll never invest, no matter how much credibility we have

But will they invest without seeing product? Ford has announced that it won’t be showing new Lincoln products when it pitches dealers on the brand’s future at the upcoming NADA convention. But isn’t product the problem? Hasn’t product been the problem at Lincoln for years? Even if Ford commits significant resources to the problem, dealers have no way of knowing what that investment will actually yield. Need we mention the LS experiment?

Since Ford won’t make a solid pitch for the future of Lincoln, we’ll send the task over to you, our Best and Brightest. Short of mocking up prototypes, what products and promises does Ford need to make to get Lincoln out of the luxury cellar?

Lexus and Infiniti have been gunning for it for years now. Cadillac is working on its answer to it. And now, Jaguar says that it wants to take on the nameplate that every luxury brand wants to replicate: the BMW 3 Series. Jag’s Adrian Hallmark tells Autoweek

We need different models. We need lower priced models. Whether we do one, two or three body styles, we can still decide. But we have to be in the lower price. We don’t want to be fighting it out in the fleet business with little engines and small wheels and discounted 25 percent. If we go into the smaller car market, we want to build elegant cars with great technology that give a sense of occasion and position us above that competition — where Jaguar should be.

And no wonder everyone is out to get Mr 3: moving 100k+ units with a starting price over $35k in the US market is the holy grail of every luxury brand… and even the Chevy Volt is shooting for that lofty goal. But the Dreier has been building its market position for decades… and it won’t give up its throne without a fight. And if Jaguar and Cadillac jump into the fight at the same time, they could end up simply taking share from each other. But then, there’s no easy way to spin cars into gold.

Car enthusiasts have been apt to criticize SUVs as irrational because few owners ever take them off-road. But, by the same token, how many owners of high-performance sports cars drive them at anything approaching their full potential? Venturing beyond cars, how many owners of diver’s watches actually scuba dive? And how many dSLR cameras are being used just like a $99 point-and-shoot? Clearly people are psychologically attracted to high-performance objects, even if they won’t actually utilize the potential of these objects. This doesn’t mean that the objects themselves don’t make sense. And yet, during my week with a Lexus LX 570, I struggled to make this 5,995-pound, technology-packed, luxurious SUV make sense.

(Read More…)

You know… that’s not a horrid-looking little interior right there. What does an adorable little “yacht tender” Aston Martin Cygnet cost, anyway Jeeves? £30,995 base? Why that’s a duke’s whisker away from fifty thousand of those colonial greenbacks! One could nearly afford three Toyota iQs for that amount of filthy lucre… and aesthetic improvements aside, they’re the same ruddy vehicle! But then, one imagines that the Aston version at least offers the sporting thrills one expects from such a storied… what’s that now? It takes 11.8 seconds to reach 62 MPH? Egad Jeeves, we’d go faster if you pushed me in the old S3! In fact, a peasant-powered Bentley is both lower-emissions and infinitely more befitting ones station than a rebadged Toyota. So much for all that “progress” nonsense…

It’s been a short, strange trip for Maybach, as Daimler’s über-luxe branding effort went from toast of the nouveau riche to played-out self-caricature in a few short years. Needless to say, TTAC has been awaiting the long-overdue death of that brand for some time now, only to be stymied by a “final” facelift and a Xenatec-developed Coupe. Now, with Aston Martin reportedly working on the new look of the brand that “nobody at Daimler wants to let die,” Maybach’s masters are finally admitting to the fact that TTAC pointed out back in 2007: The Super S-Class was “born old hat.” Autocar reports:

Originally created to be profitable at 800 cars per year, Maybach has regularly struggled to sell half that annually since the launch of the 57 and 62 in 2002. Insiders now admit the decision to base the Maybach on the platform of a two-generations-old S-class, the W140, was a mistake.

Doing so prevented Mercedes from updating the upmarket limousine’s standard features with new navigation, communication and entertainment systems, as well as new safety features owing to an incompatible electronics platform dating back to 1990.

D’oh! But don’t worry… this won’t happen again. Honest.

(Read More…)

The Blue Oval is trying to make the case that, after years of tolerating decline at its luxury brands, the fight to bring Lincoln up to snuff is deadly serious. But if admitting you have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery, CEO Alan Mulally may just have kicked off Lincolns rehabilitation with a minor stumble, telling Automotive News [sub]

we didn’t tarnish the brand. We just didn’t invest in it.

You say tomato, Alan, we say tomahto. If neglect won’t “tarnish” a luxury brand, nothing will. But now that the requisite excuses have been made, what is Ford going to do to bring back its lagging luxury brand?
(Read More…)

Hyundai’s Azera has long flown under the radar in this country, offering a near-luxury option that’s (at least) as stolid as it is solid. But because the Azera has never connected with America’s love of flamboyance, few know that the Grandeur, as it’s known in Korea, has a long, proud history full of grandiose names. Did you know the Grandeur was originally a rebadged Mitsubishi Debonair, and that these two suave nameplates were jointly developed for at least one generation? Only the second domestically-produced front-drive sedan on the Korean market, the first generation had to be made from Mitsubishi knock-down kits so the Korean automaker would have a luxury car ready to transport dignitaries in time for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. It unseated the Daewoo Royale (an Opel Rekord/Senator mash-up) as Korea’s top luxury car, and eventually became the country’s best-selling car.

Yes, the “Azera” has had a more storied history than its near-invisible styling, marketing and name in this country seem to suggest… but back in Korea it’s making waves again. The latest Grandeur launched last Thursday, and our man in Korea, Walter Foreman, has sent us the latest production-model press shots, which give a far better sense of the car than the last set of spy shots and renderings. And though Hyundai says it expects to sell 100k Grandeurs in 2011, Reuters reports that a US launch is not going to happen until 2012. In light of the new design direction, perhaps they’re taking the time to rethink the “Azera” nameplate…

Buick’s Verano aims to bring a touch of class to the compact segment, and what’s classier than a Latin motto? Especially Ad Astra Per Aspera (Through Hardship, To The Stars), the motto used by such refined institutions as Dr Challoner’s Grammar School in Buckinghamshire, England and (of course) Starfleet. Unfortunately, the Buick Verano isn’t aiming for the stars… it’s got more humble foes like the Audi A3, Volvo S40 and Lexus IS250 in its sights. In fact, it’s actually “from” the stars… well, it’s closely based on the Opel Astra, anyway.  So, make that “Ex Astra Per Aspera.” Although, come to think of it,  it didn’t really come through “hardship” so much as “China.” So I suppose the official classy Buick Verano motto should probably  be “Ex Astra Per Sina.”

The hardship part comes when GM tries to slot this bad boy between the $22,695-$26,780 Cruze LTZ and the $26,995-$36,105 Buick Regal. Or when they realize that neither the Audi A3 nor the Volvo S40 cracked 7k units last year (Lexus doesn’t break out IS250 numbers, but if were half of the IS-line mix, it would have sold 17k units last year). Keeping it classy in the compact segment just isn’t that easy.

Yes, you read correctly. For less than $200 I recently added a brand new Cadillac to my garage. The catch: it has only two wheels and I must supply the power myself. (Read More…)

Speaking of platform-sharing between brands, Volkswagen’s division of labor debates have been progressing this year with the result that Audi will develop the conglomerate’s SUVs, while Porsche is in charge of sportscar development, as well as the erector set that will become VW’s modular platform menace. Future luxury sedan development (think Porsche Panamera, Lamborghini Estoque and Bentleys)  are also said to be the purview of Porsche, although the German newspaper Der Spiegel recently revealed that

Volkswagen’s boss recently decided that, in 2014, the brand will distance itself from sportscars, instead offering a sedan based on the Audi A8.

Which is an interesting choice. After all, the king of über-luxury sedans, the Rolls Phantom, is based on a unique platform, whereas the A8 shares greasy bits with even the lowly Volkswagen Phaeton. Initially the Bugatti sedan strategy was to build the most expensive luxury sedan (as envisioned by the Galibier Concept) on the market to out-Phantom the Phantom, while (VW-owned) Bentley nips at its heels with the new Mulsanne, but that plan fell apart as a worldwide recession took hold. Now the idea seems to be to create something considerably more modest and brand-engineered… which doesn’t sound like much of a payoff for the most superlative of modern brands. We’ll just have to wait and see where this goes.

On the list of things that should not have survived the last two years of Carpocalypse, Maybach pretty much takes the cake. Even before global credit markets froze up and luxury car sales plummeted, Maybach’s appeal was wearing thin: as one TTAC writer put it, the brand built on lavishly trimmed S-Classes was born old hat. Or, as another Maybach gravedigger put it,

To paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, the Maybach experiment was a conspiracy between Daimler and the rich to make the rest of us feel smart.

Well, get ready to feel extra-smart. While Aston is prepping a new look for the brand, the old Maybach is having one last hurrah, thanks to the German custom house Xenatec, and the Saudi-based Auto Kingdom. This “Cruiserio” Coupe is the product of a €70m Auto Kingdom investment, and was built by Xenatec with cooperation from Daimler. And with 100 units planned at €715,000 each, Auto Kingdom stands to make €1.5m profit on the project… provided they all sell. And if they do, this garish, gargantuan coupe is just the beginning. According to Jameslist,

The AutoKingdom’s investment in the project is but the first in a series of projects the company is working currently on, [Auto Kingdom Chairman Waleed Abdullah Al-Hokair] noted, adding that details of 3 such projects will be revealed in the near future.

They say that “everything sells at a price,” but right now no amount of money will buy you a Fisker Karma. And, according to a leaked internal email obtained by Fiskerbuzz.com, the price of the Valmet-built luxury plug-in hybrid is rising.

In 2008, pricing was originally estimated to be around $80,000. This estimate was then more clearly defined in 2009 as an MSRP of $87,900 and has now increased another $8,000 to the final pricing of $95,900 for the EcoStandard model.

Is this price bump in any way related to Fisker’s recently-announced production delay, or is it just bad Karma? Fiskerbuzz pleads for calm:

The Karma’s solar roof, the largest continuous and most highly curved solar roof in a passenger car, was planned to be a $5,000 option. The roof is now standard.

With an MSRP of $95,900 the Karma is within 10% of the originally announced MSRP of $87,900 announced in 2009 – an incremental change over the course of two years.

More pricing info and apologia/perspective (depending on how you look at it) after the jump…

(Read More…)