Chart Of The Day: Luxury Brands

by Edward Niedermeyer

July 23rd, 2010 6:33 PM

Our six month sales by brand chart is a bit crowded, so we’ve broken out luxury brands for today’s COTD. Bloomberg assembled a grip of analysts who all say that Mercedes is going to sock it to Lexus this year… and this chart certainly proves that the opportunity is there. But then, the opportunity is there for BMW too, if Lexus so much as stops for a breath. One thing is for certain though: Ford may be ruling the mass market, Lincoln is the last stop before Volvo-ville as you work your way down the luxury volume ranking. That’s not great, but given a choice between a respectable luxury brand and a $2.6b first-half profit, I know what nine out of ten auto executives recommend.

#ChartOfTheDay #Luxury #NewCars #Sales

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13 of 45 comments

BMWfan on Jul 24, 2010

"More examples of TTAC’s anti-Asian bias" Actually drifter, I have found this website to be exceptionally anti biased. They tell the truth regardless of color, creed religion or ethnicity, and that's just the way I like it.

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- Drifter on Jul 24, 2010
  
  With the exception of discontinued GM brands, no large brand has lost more market-share between 2000-2010 than VW . Good luck finding one article about this on TTAC. Just in the last few we weeks they had editorials on how Prius sales has stalled (last time I checked Prius was almost outselling entire VW lineup,RX outsells all Audis) or Pathfinder sales have cratered. In terms of sales, Toureg and Tiguan has been disasters of "Titan"ic proportions. If anyone hasn't been realized that this site hasn't been big-time p!mps of VW/Audi, you haven't been paying attention.
  
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- Dr Strangelove on Jul 24, 2010
  
  "With the exception of discontinued GM brands, no large brand has lost more market-share between 2000-2010 than VW. Good luck finding one article about this on TTAC." If I'm not mistaken, that loss occurred mostly in the first half of the decade. Ancient history. VW has received its share of criticism here.
  
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Wagen on Jul 24, 2010

+1 more open jaw that is shocked that Acura is selling its polarizingly-styled embellished Honda products in such volumes. Adding a guillotine grill, aluminized plastic trim bits, a few dozen extra buttons, and extra leather to an Accord does not a luxury car make. Acura and Lincoln, plus MINI, should be separated into another sub-luxury class, perhaps "premium" in rental car class jargon.

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- Drifter on Jul 24, 2010
  +1 more open jaw that is shocked that Acura is selling its polarizingly-styled embellished Honda products in such volumes. Adding a guillotine grill, aluminized plastic trim bits, a few dozen extra buttons, and extra leather to an Accord does not a luxury car make. The fact that Audi trails Acura with all attributes mentioned tells how pathetic Audi's market performance is.
  
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- SomeDude on Jul 24, 2010
  
  +1. No model Acura offers these days qualifies as a luxury car. Also, I think that their current position will soon change - Lincoln will sure get ahead of both Acura and Infiniti. Ford seems to be eager to restore their premium brand while neither Honda nor Renault-Nissan show any interest in doing something about the decline of theirs.
  
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- Geeber on Jul 25, 2010
  
  In that case, neither does Cadillac. The CTS is no more luxurious or premium than the TL, and the SRX is a rebodied Equinox, and no more premium than an MDX. The DTS sells largely to rental car companies and senior citizens who pay no where near sticker for one. The STS, like the discontinued XLR, is a complete flop, and not taken seriously as a competitor to the true luxury brands (Mercedes, BMW and Lexus).
  
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- Mpresley on Jul 25, 2010
  drifter: The fact that Audi trails Acura with all attributes mentioned tells how pathetic Audi’s market performance is. You might want to add Infiniti, Lincoln, Volvo, Jaguar, and all the rest, too. The truth is, Merc has always been the gold standard, even when their product was not too good. It's just brand perception. Besides, if Audi sells 50 thousand cars, that's not too bad for a brand that was dead as a doornail on or around 1986. Especially in this economy.
  
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- Invisible on Jul 26, 2010
  
  Wow Wagen, you sound kinda uninformed. If you are claiming Acura's are just an Accord with a few more buttons, then you come across as grossly misguided. In the USA, no Acura and Honda share body work. No Acura and Honda share powertrains...... Compare and contrast that to Audi/VW, Caddy/Chevrolet, Lexus/Toyota, et al....
  
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- Wagen on Jul 26, 2010
  
  Uninformed? Perhaps. I'll let each reader of TTAC decide for him/herself if the TL is an upmarket Accord derivative. I didn't design the J35 engine, but know from research that the 3.5l engine used in the TSX and base TL is a variant of the engine used in the Accord, Ridgeline, and Pilot. Same displacement, cylinder dimensions, valvetrain, with a slightly higher compression ratio to squeeze a little additional output to justify an Acura badge and markup instead of that squared-in H logo. Both are built at the same Marysville, OH plant. In my opinion, they both have the same attempt to imitate the Hofmeister Kink in the rear door (though way more poorly executed in the TL where the trim extends onto the C-pillar rather than on the door). The (IMHO) awkward drivers-side fuel filler door placement cuts across the bodyside character line in both. Perhaps they don't share the same body panels but, to me, there are clear details that illustrate they share some common lineage. Again, it's up to each reader to form his/her own opinion of how closely the TL and Accord are related.
  
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Jaje on Jul 24, 2010

Colors and position of the lines in the graph are backwards again. Red should be for 2010 sales and on top as that is the point you making. It looks like BMW is kicking ass if you do a brief look of this table. Did anyone pay attention in their stats class to learn the importance of color / position in graphs?

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- PrincipalDan on Jul 24, 2010
  
  Do you honestly think any of these gentlemen took stats or graphic design?
  
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Invisible on Jul 26, 2010

So, has anyone explained why TTAC listed Mercedes on top? Do the Mercedes #'s include all those Sprinter Vans?

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