What Are The Top 6 Luxury Brands?

lemko

An Imperial limo by Ghia really was something exclusive. They cost $15,000 when an ordinary Imperial was less than $5K. They only produced like 15-18 each year which really made them rare.

bumpy

One of these things? "Ghia" must be an Italian word that means 'blindingly ugly'.

bumpy

it would be this:

rockylee

bumpy, thats pretty nice. Well tell me what it is ? :confuse:

-Rocky

bumpy

You don't wanna know. It costs around $150,000$100,000 before options.

british_rover

Toyota Century. It is the limo that Toyota makes for the Japanese goverment and royal family.

Has a V12 under the hood I think.

rockylee

Ahhhhhhhh I thought I saw "it" before but it looked a little bigger in this picture.

-Rocky

bumpy

When a Lexus is too gauche.

It has a 5-liter V12 with the "gentlemen's rating" of 276hp, which is probably more like 350hp.

Mr_Shiftright

Rare, yes...attractive....no...hence not that valuable. I think the problem was that EVEN people with more money then they knew what to do with had better taste than to be seen in one.

I guess there is a market for bad taste luxury and good taste luxury....I mean, look at those Clenets and Tiffanys etc. People pay pretty high prices for those grotesque creations.

I have to say most of the $200K ++ cars are in very good taste....

british_rover

It does kind of look like a bad version of a older Caddy Deville/DTS.

grylexis300

Puff, puff, pass......grylexis300, because if you really believe Cadillac, won't be around you really are smoking some good stuff. Tiger Woods, is helping to sell Buick's and within' 3 years Buick, will be making well a better Lexus, for a lot less money

even IF buick could make a better car than any lexus nobody would buy them. same with cadillac.

the toyota forerunner and honda pilot are superior vehicles in just about every way to any buick. how is it going to beat a lexus??. holy smokes. the camry SE and accord V6 are superior to any buick in just about every single way. wow. i'd take any nissan over a buick.

i'd take a toyota yaris over a buick. the honda odyssey can out drive any buick.

cadillac's are good for shoot outs in movies so they can fill it with holes.

sorry but the truth must be told.

displacedtexan

Given the same strident Toyexus / Hondura championing, GM and all makes American bashing, I think grylexis300 and mediapusher must be soul-mates.

lemko

Shoot, I want a Cadillac or a Buick more than a night of unbridled hedonistic passion with the supermodels or actresses of my choice.

I'd rather have dinner cooked by Hannibal Lecter as chef and Jeffrey Dahmer as my waiter than buy any Toyonda product.

ms09

I think what most people thinks that the top 6 luxury brands r

1.Rolls roy..
2.maybach.
3.bentley
4.aston
5.benz
6.lexus
and bmw's

and i think many will add sports cars as well which i don't consider luxury cars.example. ferrari lambo buggati etc...

But in my own opinion. not every1 will agree, it will be, and i will be specific.

1.lexus LS600h.

2.benz. s65amg/cl63amg/cl65amg

3.bmw

4.porsche cayenne v8's only

5.bentley gt's only

As i said before this is only my opinion and what i like.

Do u guys know that the Cl class is the worlds quietest car.

jchan2

(I'm limiting myself to mass-market luxury brands, aka Mercedes, BMW, etc.)

6. Acura
5. Infiniti
4. Audi
3. Lexus
2. BMW
1. Mercedes-Benz

Personally I'd rather save money and get a Volvo or something, but for most people, it's pretty much the list above.

I tend to prefer the entry level models, as that's what most people end up buying, and amongst those, here's a list of what I think are the best 6 in the category: (this includes value)
6. Saab 9-3 60th Anniversary Edition
5. tied: Acura TSX and Acura TL
3. Lexus ES350
2. BMW 3-Series
1. Infiniti G35

sservice

1.Aston Martin
2.Bentley
3.Bugatti
4.Ferrari
5.Maserati
6.Rolls-Royce
Perfect Motor Cars! This is my Opinion what i like! From vintage 1904 up to todays picks! Sure theres more but you only asked for six, I even own two of theses fine Motor Cars on the list!

rockylee

#1 Saab
#2 Cadillac
#3 Lincoln
#4 Buick
#5 Acura
#6 BMW

-Rocky

british_rover

Seriouisly SAAB?

WTH are you thinking.

The rest of your list is pretty screwed up but SAAB does not even belong in the top 10.

alltorque

Amen. Saab and Luxury are two words you never see in the same sentence.

Don't discount Rolls Royce. The current Phantom is one phenomenal car in all respects. Don't let all the bling associations colour your judgement. Leaves Cadillac in the weeds and the only debate is whether RR or Maybach takes top spot. No definitive answer - all down to personal taste. Then again, current Bentleys are up in the top 5 too.

rockylee

Okay my list looks like this presently british_rover !!!!

#1 Cadillac
#2 Saab
#3 Acura
#4 Lexus
#5 Volvo
#6 Lincoln
#7 Mercedes
#8 Audi
#9 BMW
#10 Buick, oops I mean Infiniti, British.

-Rocky

british_rover

Still completely insane.

SAAB doesn't belong on the list with their current line up. Since we are talking Luxury not ultra luxury I will leave out Rolls, Bentley etc.

#1 Mercedes: Even with the stumbles they have had in the recent past Mercedes still has the most complete luxury lineup.

#2 BMW: And it is a very close second. If this list had more of an emphasis on sport over Luxury I would put BMW first.

#3 Lexus: Line up is not as complete as the two german heavy weights and their SUVs are well behind in technology compared to the Germans. Reliability is better then other but that is not the be all and end all for a Luxury mark.

#4 Audi: Line up is filling out and should rival Mercedes soon but still not as high end as either Merc or BMW. Reliability probably the worst of the Germans as well and drive train design for most cars means engine hangs well in front of the axle.

#5 Tie between Acura and Infiniti: Infiniti has the more complete line up but styling is awkward for some cars and interior are sub-par IMO. Great driving dynamics for cars but QX56 is a poor job of rebadging. Acura has some pretty good styling except for new MDX and interiors are very good vs. the rest of the class. But still hung up on FWD platforms which won't cut it at this level.

After that it gets too hard but SAAB and Lincoln are no where near the top six.

Caddy is probably number 7 and Volvo I think takes the 8th spot.

rockylee

My top 6 was factoring in price/value. Sure if money is no object my list would look a little more like yours but BMW, sure wouldn't be as high as you have em. :confuse:

-Rocky

theinric

What reasons would you cite to choose Mercedes over BMW as your luxury car of choice? I chose a CLS500 over BMW but am interested in others' reasons.

boaz47

1.Aston Martin
2.Bentley
3.Bugatti
4.Ferrari
5.Maserati
6.Rolls-Royce
I am not sure British rover would completely agree but that is a pretty good list. Luxury is defined by excess and not many other vehicles listed earlier apply. Luxury goes with fame and power. It goes with history and comfort for comfort sake with no compromises.

When tend to transpose words for advertising purposes even when they don't apply. We have redefined sports car to be any number of sporty cars. We have redefined Luxury car to any number of standard vehicles with some upgrades. Putting more leather in a car to call it a luxury car is simply not the same as designing one from the ground up to exude opulence.

A grand house is a grand house it is not Buckingham palace or Château de Versailles. It isn't that the grand house someone built isn't nice or better built. It is simply that it is not a Palace. It isn't that MB, BMW or even Lexus aren't nice comfortable cars. They are simply not uncompromising luxury cars.

trimaster

My top luxury brands:

1. Bentley

2. Rolls Royce

3. Maseratti

4. Aston Martin

5. Maybach

Everyday top 10:

1. Mercedes

2. Lexus

3. Audi

4. BMW

5. Caddy (only because the list asks for 5 so it's a distant 5. Not on the level of the 4 preceeding it.)

jgordo

Wow, the top six luxury car brands. Hmm. There is room for debate, but you have to eliminate the GT class or sports cars (like Aston Martin). Also, luxury means, well, luxury, even over handling and performance. That being said, here they are:

1. Rolls Royce (need we say more?)
2. Maserati (the Quattroporte is the real deal)
3. Lexus (they put stuff on the LS I haven't even thought of yet)
4. Mercedes Benz (The big body AMG sedans are just awesome)
5. BMW - The big 7 series is still a luxury statement
6. Jaguar (The interior is still carrying the load)

Sorry, but Saab and Buick are still on the outside looking in. I considered Cadillac for the 6th spot, but the Jag still has that look and feel of a world class luxury sedan. Yes, Bentley is an option, but I dealt with that with RR at num. 1. To me, Bentley is a performance version of the luxurious RR.

alltorque

Top three have to be :

Rolls Royce
Maybach
Bentley

Order will depend on your own tastes. All rest follow on behind those three. Mercedes should be there but their recent lack of build quality and reliability keeps them out and stops there being a genuine Top 4. However, I think they'll be back, (AMG and Brabus versions don't count. it's actually saying; "I bought a wonderful Mercedes. It's so good that I paid extra for AMG to finish it properly").

Anyone who decries any of the top three obviously has no idea what they actually do as cars - not just as wealth-signifiers.

Just a view from the big island off the coast of Europe.

lemko

...all but finished? I didn't see one displayed at the Philadelphia Auto Show this year.

stever

Maybe they figure if they sell enough copies of the Landaulet for 1.3 million each, they can skip the auto shows.

Maybach Landaulet to go for $1.35 Million

xelement

Maybach
Rolls Royce
Bentley
Aston Martin
Mercedes Benz
BMW

This would be my top 6.

stever

Happened to notice this graphic this morning. Jaguar seems to be absent. And you have to wonder how Genesis and Equus sales are going to play.



Graph came from this AutoObserver story about Audi.

nvbanker

I only count mainstream cars, the exotic ones, like Rolls and Aston, I can't relate to. I've never driven either of them, or ridden in them. They are too exclusive for me. So....

1) Lexus
2) Mercedes
3) BMW
4) Audi
5) Jaguar
6) Infiniti

Acura - Too Hondaish, no V-8. No RWD. Too much sport, not enough Luxury.
Lincoln - More like a Buick these days. No RWD cars anymore.
Cadillac - Close, but too small now, not really Luxury, more Sport.
SAAB - Really, nothing luxurious about these wierd cars.
Volvo - Interesting, different, nice, but more quirky than luxurious.

qbrozen

Well, certainly, if RWD is one of your qualifiers, then Saab and Volvo are out for that reason alone.

But shouldn't that also exclude Audi??

nvbanker

I suppose, but aren't Audis AWD? That mitigates the torque steer and handling issues a lot.

qbrozen

you can get them with AWD... just like Saab and Volvo.

But since some of your comments were "No RWD," I assume that doesn't really matter.

nvbanker

But since some of your comments were "No RWD," I assume that doesn't really matter.

Well, AWD does help with me....I just put them a little further down on the list than RWD cars with available V-8 engines, however - I realize the V-8 is becoming a dinosaur, relegated to exotics soon, while the lowly luxury car is moving down. Ford has turbos, Cadillac is going to all 4 cylinders, I have heard..... So times are changing again. :surprise:

stever

New categories - "we have 12 mostly new categories like Most Wanted Car We Can't Have, Most Wanted Exotic, Most Wanted Cheap Car, Most Wanted Fuel Sipper, Most Wanted Hatchback, Most Wanted Hot Rod Division…things you actually care about."

2011 Edmunds' Inside Line Readers' Most Wanted Awards

yelnats19

bmw all the way

jbaril

Rolls-Royce
Bentley
Aston-Martin
Maybach
Mercedes-Benz
Bugatti

qbrozen

easy, huh?

You are completely confident that Benz is above Maserati?

stever

"We came to the strong conclusion that the sales chances for the Mercedes brand are much stronger than those for Maybach," Mr. Zetsche was quoted as saying in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung interview, whose contents Daimler confirmed."

Daimler to Scrap Its Maybach Luxury Cars (Wall St. Journal)

Looks like production will end by 2013.

fintail

I thought production ended around 2007 :shades:

stever

That was sales. :P

lemko

Shoot, now's the time to get a great deal on that never-titled 2007 Maybach 62! Maybe Kanye and Jay Z could just keep buying Maybachs to trash in their videos until the remaining inventory is exhausted?

nvbanker

After all, a company must be profitable to survive. 200 sales, no matter what the price is, cannot be justified in a year. Ford dropped the venerable Lincoln Town Car because it had only 17,000 sales last year. Not enough to keep the line profitable and moving. I thought it was a mistake, many limo companies mourned the loss as nothing made a better limo for a good price. But you can't argue the economics. I'm not surprised at the Maybach sales though, because even if you can afford one, you won't trade it in every year, most likely. ONce you have one, it will last you a while.... and there are only so many people in the world who can afford one and want one, or two. There is also Rolls, Bentley and Porsche competing for this market. And lastly, they can make about as nice an S class.

robr2

Well the issue with the Town Car was that that plant making it and the Crown Vic was running at about 40% capacity and it didn't make sense to continue manufacturing a car that is based on a 21 YO design.

The problem with Maybach was that MB brought back a name that didn't mean anything to today's buyers. Rolls Royce and Bentley are known - Maybach, not so much.

fintail

Most importantly for Maybach, it is just tacky, looking like a Chinese fakey S-class. No presence like a Rolls, no badge like a Bentley or higher end MB etc.

I think TC and CV/GM must have been 95%+ fleet sales by the end.

robr2

I think TC and CV/GM must have been 95%+ fleet sales by the end.

It was 100% fleet sales for the last 2 years of production.

fintail

I know when I rented a "premium" car last month, the choices I could initially take were a TC and a GM. My reply was pretty much "not gonna happen".

I would have imagined there'd be enough octogenarian demand to sell a few thousand TCs a year, but maybe they all moved to the DTS.

lemko

Hey! I'm just a little over half an octogenarian! I also have a GM and wouldn't mind a TC either!