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Brazil’s luxury car market grows in an otherwise slowing economy

Last Thursday was the kick off for the 2014 World Cup, so to celebrate we are bringing you some news on luxury cars in Brazil.

Brazil’s economy may be weakening but sales of some luxury car marques in the country are soaring in a sign of the enormous pent-up wealth in Latin America’s biggest country.

Germany’s Audi said sales in the first five months of this year more than doubled compared with the same period last year to a record of more than 5000 units while those of BMW were up 24-25 per cent in the same interval to 6,100.

“There is a lot of wealth and a lot of money in Brazil still,” said Jörg Hofmann, chief executive officer of Audi Brasil. “The so-called ‘A’ social class has been growing for the last 10 years.”

More than a decade of economic growth gave rise to a new lower middle-class in Brazil but it has also fuelled the fortunes of the wealthy.

Still one of the world’s most unequal countries, Brazil has a relatively small population of “high-net-worth individuals”, those with more than $1m to invest, but their collective fortune is ranked third of any country in the world, estimated at about $4,000bn by Cap Gemini and RBC Wealth Management.

Sales of luxury cars have boomed in emerging markets in recent years and are growing in developed markets such as the US in a sign that high-income groups have weathered the global financial crisis better than the middle classes.

In Brazil, the world’s fourth largest car market, general car sales in the first five months of the year fell 13.3 per cent compared with a year earlier as the economy slowed and tax breaks were lifted.

Luxury car makers in Brazil argued that their market, on the other hand, was benefitting from under-penetration for their products compared with other countries, their liberation from some import-related taxes and good strategy.

“The penetration of the premium segment in relation to the total industry is very low – it represents 1.5 -1.6 per cent of sales, while in Russia that number is 10 per cent and in China it is also increasing,” said Martin Fritsches, director of sales at BMW Brasil. “There is a huge potential.”

He said the three big German producers, which also included Mercedes Benz, together with Porche and Land Rover grew sales about 21 per cent in the first five months.

BMW was expanding throughout the country with plans to have 48 “points of sale” in place by the end of the year, many in the booming Northeast, compared with only 21 four years ago.

BMW’s sales had also been helped by government moves to grant it higher tax-free quotas to import cars because of its plans to build a new plant in the country.

The €200m facility will have capacity of 32,000 units per year and will produce the company’s best-selling Series 1, Series 3, X1, X3, and Mini Countryman models.

Audi’s Hoffman said his company was targetting the market with the compact A3 sedan hatchback and Q3 compact SUV with plans to open a factory next year.

In the meantime, the company is doubling dealer networks with post-sales facilities around the country to build market share before the factory reaches full capacity of 26,000 units in 2020.

São Paulo BMW customer Paulo Roberto Ferreira Henneberg, who works in software, said he was buying a 435i M Sport for R$290,000, of which he would pay off financing of R$90,000 in 10 monthly installments.

“Even though you know that in Brazil the cost is very high because of taxes, once you come to buy … you end up being seduced,” Henneberg said of luxury cars. He now has six BMWs in his collection.

Source http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2014/06/06/luxury-car-sales-zoom-as-brazil-slows/?hubRefSrc=permalink

Luxury car brands to target women

When it comes to fashion, style, luxury and spending money, no one does it better than the women of the world! It comes as no surprise that luxury car brands are standing up and taking note of the female client and what they want in a car.

Women are buying more than half of the new cars in the United States and influence up to 80 per cent of all car purchases, according to Women-Drivers.com and Forbes. With statistics like these, car manufacturers and their marketers have heard the lure and are finally starting to target women and their specific needs.

The trend guru Faith Popcorn, in her book EVEolution, says, “women don’t buy brands, they join them”. And in the luxury car industry, this seems to be just the case – it looks like women are changing and pervading the field from the inside out and the outside in.

Italian marque Lamborghini reports that “three out of four workers in their trim and colour assembly area on the Sant’Agata Bolognese production line are now women”. This team of 35 women works on industrial sewing machines, cutting and stitching the leather upholstery. And the brand’s production managers at the plant agree: “Women have a more critical eye for detail”.

But women aren’t limited to the production sector – Helen Emsley heads the team that designed the interior of the 2014 Corvette Stingray and was recently appointed executive director of Global GMC Design and User Experience. The designers of the BMW i Series user interface are two women, Sandy McGill and Monika Zych. And it was big news in the car world when General Motors named Mary Barra as its new CEO last December – the first woman to ever lead a major global carmaker.

Not only are the cars becoming more women-centric, but their many accessories and brand extensions are finding new owners as well. It all started with car accessories for Maserati, Ferrari, Porsche and Bugatti – first there were leather first-aid kits and luggage compartment mats, which quickly evolved to luggage and iPad cases that took on a more feminine aesthetic.

These so-called brand extensions are inherent in the luxury goods market. Haute couture has for the past century extended to accessories, jewellery and cosmetics. Chanel and Saint Laurent (then Yves Saint Laurent) set forth as haute couture brands and today are empires spanning everything from fashion to household goods.

In the car industry during the 1970s, collaborations with luxury brands, such as Cartier, Pierre Cardin and Oleg Cassini, were commonplace and consumers looked out for these elegant special editions. Today, it’s still rife with such models as the Gucci-designed Fiat and Victoria Beckham’s baby Range Rover Evoque.

And so Bugatti joined the ranks of Porsche and Ferrari at Milan Fashion Week in September last year by launching an exclusive apparel and accessories collection. Not to be missed is their crocodile skin handbag, sculpted to mimic the front grille of the Bugatti.

Last year, Bentley started selling handbags that retail for over US$5,500, while Porsche debuted its Maria Sharapova handbag. And Mercedes-Benz is not far behind with The House of Mercedes-Benz, a fashion boutique featuring exclusive items as a limited-edition collection of wooden eyewear inspired by the wood detailing in the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

Brands are gearing up more than ever to expand their offerings. Before the Geneva Motor Show in March, Lamborghini and Bentley released statements declaring that they want to “expand their brands and specifically proffer to women”.

 

Bec Brideson, director of the marketing agency Hello I’m Venus in Australia, says: “Car dealers have improved their soft skills in the dealership – putting on events that appeal primarily to women, and making their showrooms more female-friendly.” But she believes car companies still stick to a “one-size-fits-all-genders approach, especially with product development”.

Donna Milgram writes on her Recruiting Women TechnoBlog: “There are fortunes to be made for the first of these luxury car brands who are brave and imaginative enough to commit to researching, designing and marketing vehicles that appeal specifically and exclusively to the new affluent, independent woman.”

Images of lipstick, stilettos and nail varnish populate past marketing efforts that were unsuccessful. In the book Oops, Martin Smith and Patrick Kiger give examples from the 1950s, when Ford developed “Motor Mates”, a line of handbags tied to certain Ford vehicles, which Chrysler responded to with the pink “Dodge La Femme” with matching handbag, raincoat and umbrella. The 1960s were even worse – competitions with Mustangs in lipstick colours as prizes, or Studebaker’s manual entitled “Going Steady with Studie” that patronised female buyers.

A step in the right direction, however, was Volvo’s YCC (“Your Concept Car”), presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 2004. Volvo assembled a design team entirely made up of women, and looked extensively at ergonomics from the perspective of a female driver.

But since then the industry is looking for the next evolution, with brands such as Bugatti reporting that they want to “double their female customers within the next five years”.

And so this is only the beginning, as luxury car brands cater to women – mimicking the female form in terms of design and paying careful attention to attributes such as maneuverability, interior craftsmanship and user-friendly features. Women, meanwhile, are interested in a luxury car product that evokes emotion, provides total reassurance and at the same time maintains the authenticity they crave – and apparently they are not afraid to ask for exactly that.

Source http://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/article/1520512/luxury-car-makers-turn-focus-women-drivers

Luxury car growth is never ending in North America

Luxury Car growth world wide is going from strength to strength with some promising figures already emerging for 2014. North America are not alone in their appreciation of luxury and style, but here lets take a look at who is performing well in the States.

U.S. auto sales turned out to have an incredible month of sales in May. The news was good almost universally (except for the VW brand), but the luxury car market just seems to have no end in sight in North America. What we have not done was to break out sales prices and incentives in the luxury market as a whole.

What is obvious is that the luxury market just keeps on chugging higher and higher once you look at the sales data.

Can some of this be attributed to new model launches? In some cases. Still, the numbers just look strong by almost every account. We took a look at North American sales of Porsche, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Jaguar, and Land Rover for the month of May. Even the used luxury market looked strong when the companies discussed it.

Porsche said that its May sales of 4,609 vehicles was bumped by the mid-May launch of the 2015 Macan S and Macan Turbo (1,263 units). Porsche said that this beats last year’s record sales number by 17.3 percent. It was also the best ever sales month for Porsche in the U.S. Porsche even went on to say that its two-door sports cars and Panamera have continued strong sales performance gains from 2013, and that the demand for Cayenne still outstrips the supply. Porsche even went on to say that its Approved Certified Pre-Owned vehicle sales in May were up 17 percent at 994 units.

Mercedes-Benz said that May was the company’s fifth record sales month Of 2014, with its Mercedes-Benz brand sales up 7.7% to 26,617 units. Total sales were represented as being up over 8% to 29,570 units if you blend the Mercedes-Benz, Sprinter and smart model lines. The group’s top sellers in May were its C-, E- and M-Class model lines, with the E-Class up over 25 percent to 6,168 vehicles. Its high-end flagship S-Class volume of 2,173 was up over 82% from the same month last year.

BMW Group U.S. also posted a record May for its BMW brand, in part from the launch of the BMW i3. BMW and MINI combined sales in May were up over 13% to 35,331 vehicles, but sales of BMW brand vehicles rose by more than 17 percent in May for a total of 29,602 vehicles. The BMW i3 has now officially launched, with its first month’s sales totaling 336 units. BMW Pre-Owned Vehicles also rose by 14 percent to 18,064 vehicles. Management even talked up this summer –

“This will be the summer of BMW with the new M3 and M4 on sale this month and the new X4 and 4 Series Gran Coupe coming in July.”

Audi said that this was its best U.S. May sales in the company’s history, and second-best any-month tally period – with it being the 41st consecutive U.S. sales record. Its sales rose to 16,601 powered both by the new entry-level model, A3, and by the brand’s high-end cars. Diesels accounted for 11.5% to 28.2% of sales.

Jaguar and Land Rover have shown that May sales rose 17 percent, to 5,840 units (according to USA Today) – for the best May unit sales report since 2007. The Range Rover Sport redesign had record May sales of 1,496 units for a gain of 35 percent. Sale of the crossover Range Rover Evoque rose a sharp 59 percent to 1,196 sales. Jaguar sales were up 14% in May, led by its F-series sports car coupe and convertible and by the XK sedan.

Source Is There No End to Luxury Car Sales Growth in America? – 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/autos/2014/06/03/is-there-no-end-to-luxury-car-sales-growth-in-america/#ixzz33khuqNoI

Lexus GS450h perfectly combines luxury with hybrid

Can you have luxury in a hybrid car? We all want to do our part in helping the environment, but giving up style and luxury to do so is not as appealing to everyone. Let me introduce you to the Lexus GS450h and see what you think of this luxury hybrid.

hen hybrid cars started appearing on the market around the turn of this century, they were universally Spartan. Their one luxury was the readout on the dash that gave you electronic feedback about your driving habits. Fifteen years later, hybrids come in all shapes, sizes, and classes, including full-on luxury, like the Lexus GS450h. It offers good fuel economy, but when you’re driving a $60,000 car, is “economy” really what you’re after?

The hybrid drivetrain combines to make the Lexus GS450h the most powerful car in the GS line-up. The gas-powered, 24-valve, 3.5-liter V-6 is good for 286 hp, and the permanent electric motor can develop 200 hp. When they combine, the power rating is 338 hp, which bests any other GS by 32 hp.

Unlike GS350 rear-drive trims, the GS450h has a continuously variable transmission, as opposed to an 8-speed automatic. It features shift paddles so you can manually shift “gears,” but it’s not really something the car excels at. To really feel the promise of such a setup, you have to experience something like the twin-clutch, direct-shift gearbox on a Volkswagen, rather than a CVT whose manual mode just holds the engine at a higher RPM longer. Continuously variable transmissions do offer somewhat higher fuel mileage than a traditional automatic by keeping the engine at optimal RPM, but they simply sap all the fun out of driving something with a modern 7- or 8-speed automatic.

It puts a damper on the additional power in the GS450h and delivers a performance similar to the lesser GS trims. Lexus proclaims that the car is quicker by a tenth of a second than the rear-drive versions of the other GS trims, and is two-tenths of a second faster than the all-wheel-drive versions you’re likely to see in New England. But when Car and Driver evaluated this hybrid against its traditionally powered stablemates, it came in at as much as two-tenths of a second slower.

Part of the reason this car is only marginally quicker despite the power is weight. Adding an electric motor and a battery pack equals as much as 400 pounds, or about a 10 percent gain on the scale, and it’s something that became evident when I had to make an abrupt manoeuvre on the highway.

As I was merging into the middle lane, another driver quickly merged into the same space from the passing lane. I swerved a bit and got on the brakes and the GS450h wagged its tail a little more than I would’ve expected from something with performance aspirations. Keep in mind, I was driving the car in Normal mode, rather than the Sport or Sport + modes that boost suspension responsiveness. The GS450h also offers an EV mode that allows you to drive for short distances on battery power alone, which is a usable feature in the traffic in and around Boston.

Fuel economy for such a big car isn’t bad at an observed 26 miles per gallon average. The EPA suggests that you can see as much as 34 miles per gallon on the highway. It gives the GS450h a not insignificant 10 miles per gallon average advantage over the GS350 AWD. But it also comes at a price. An all-wheel-drive GS350 starts at $49,950. The GS450h starts at $60,430. Our tested version climbed past the $62,000 mark. That’s a lot of gas.

The price and the handling in Normal mode are my two biggest reservations. On the plus side of the ledger, the GS450h features a passenger cabin that easily rivals competitors from Europe. Stepping into the GS450h, the first thing you’ll notice is how much brighter it is than lesser trims in the GS line.

Our tested version featured the optional Luxury Package with light grey perforated leather interior, made even brighter by the light-coloured bamboo trim on the console, dash, and steering wheel. This, along with the sunroof, makes the GS450h seem much bigger inside than it really is.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m really tired of seats that try to be Recaro racing buckets. There’s a place for those kind of seats, and it’s not in the cabin of a luxury car. According to my backside, the GS450h has the most comfortable, luxurious seats of any luxury car on the market today. They’re supportive, but in a way that recalls the buckets of the old Saab 9000 Aero, which are the benchmark for comfortable automobile seats.

One of the first things I do when I get in any new car is pair my phone. On some cars, it can be a maddeningly frustrating process, but in the GS450h—and all of the Lexus cars I’ve sampled—it’s simple to figure out how the pairing process works. Take this tip, auto manufacturers: If your customer selects “BLUETOOTH” under the media menu and a phone or media player isn’t found, begin the pairing process automatically with an option to cancel out, instead of having to initiate the process manually.

The cabin can be complemented with an available Mark Levinson audio system. With 17 speakers located all over the place, the system cranks out 835 watts of power. This ain’t your daddy’s Sparkomatic. It rocks. Lexus pretty well integrates all of the infotainment technology by means of the console-mounted joystick, but also keeps intuitive knobs and buttons for the radio and heat controls, which is a welcome departure from the era when manufacturers decided to bury all of those controls under sub-menus.

But with the exception of the bamboo trim and the hybrid drivetrain, you can get everything on the GS450h in any other GS trim, at a significantly reduced price. You could buy 2,500 gallons of gasoline with the price difference, enough to get you 50,000 miles, even at the GS350’s least optimistic fuel economy estimate. With that in mind, the question remains: Why spend the extra dough?

Source http://www.boston.com/cars/news-and-reviews/2014/05/31/lexus-defines-hybrid-luxury-with/OILsyWldxrnldgUu7DDBSO/story.html

Marbella has become the home for luxury cars in Spain

Marbella, its good news for us that Marbella has now become the home for luxury cars in Spain!

You only have to take a cruise up the Golden Mile from the centre of town to Puerto Banus and you will pass, or more likely be passed, by an exotic collection of machinery including Porsches, Ferraris, Bentleys and more recently McLarens.

The town sells more luxury cars than practically anywhere else in Spain.

So it is no surprise to find so many upmarket dealerships in town, including VIP Cars and No1 Cars Marbella in a nearby industrial zone, which offer a full range of services by British trained mechanics.

Heading in the other direction towards Estepona, you will find C. de Salamanca and Guarnieri selling the types of cars most can only dream of – Maseratis, McLarens and Rolls Royces.

Another well established dealer Miguel Domenech has been selling dream cars for over two years having made the decision to relocate from his native Sevilla and considers the Costa del Sol one of the best places to sell.

“In the last six months we have seen the market getting busier and busier,” he told the Olive Press. “I was involved in the luxury car business in Sevilla and when the crisis hit it was at its worst, but I didn’t want to leave the high end of the market”.

So what is Miguel’s dream car for the Costa del Sol? “Well, I drive to Sevilla a lot so for me it has to be something practical like an Audi A4 or A6 Avant.

“The most popular cars among my clients however are the Mercedes and BMWs. Though I suppose my perfect car would be a convertible Bentley!”.

 

Bentley and Rolls-Royce in record profits

Luxury car manufacturers are reporting high profits for last year and this year already. With Bentley and Rolls Royce up there too, it’s nice to see some British car royalty sharing a large piece of the pie.

Britain’s leading luxury car manufacturers Bentley and Rolls-Royce both achieved record profits last year as demand for classic car marques continues to grow.

 

Bentley, which accounts for one in every four luxury cars sold around the world, saw sales jump a fifth to £1.4 billion to the year ending December 31, 2013. Profits rocketed from £108 million to £181 million as it sold a record 10,120 cars.

 

It is a remarkable performance for the company, which recorded a pre-tax loss of £293 million on a £591 million turnover just three years ago.

 

Since buying Bentley in 1998, owner Volkswagen has invested more than £1 billion in improving production at its manufacturing plant in Crewe, Cheshire.

 

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, owned by Germany’s BMW, sold a record 3,630 cars last year, all handmade to order at Goodwood, West Sussex. A spokesman said: ‘There is an appetite around the world for quality, luxury and Britishness.’

Source http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2644739/Luxury-car-manufacturers-Bentley-Rolls-Royce-rev-record-profits.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

 

Aston Martin creates 250 jobs in South Warwickshire

Most of our blogs have recently talked about the growth we are seeing in the luxury car market. Nothing cements this more than the reports we are seeing of luxury car manufacturers investing money and creating jobs for new developments and proposed expansion. The latest news comes from the south Warwickshire-based luxury car-maker Aston Martin who is investing £20 million in new developments, with the creation of 250 jobs.

The 10,000 square metre extension will be the firm’s biggest development at its headquarters in Gaydon in recent history as it looks ahead to projects on creating new sports cars.

The new jobs – to be recruited for over the next few months – will be in a number of areas, including engineering, manufacturing and commerce.

Keith Stanton, Aston Martin’s manufacturing operations director, said: “I am very happy to be able to execute another part of our manufacturing strategy by extending our already highly-efficient facility.

“The improvements at Gaydon are a big step forward and the development will enable us to streamline and finesse our manufacturing processes which, in turn, will allow us to be leaner and even more competitive.”

He added: “We have the vision of being the best producer in the luxury sports car sector and a new facility, along with the support of our flexible, highly-efficient workforce, will enable us to achieve our goal.”

Meanwhile, more than 500 applications have been submitted for the 12 places available in the latest round of the firm’s apprenticeship scheme and 14 graduates will be taken on as employees this year.

Chief financial officer Hanno Kirner said: “We have confirmed that the coming years will see Aston Martin implementing the biggest investment programme in the 101-year history of the brand, with a plan to inject over £500 million into the company’s next generation of high performance sports cars.”

This first round of developments, expected to be complete next year, will include a new chassis and pilot build facility, new offices and an extension of the parts and logistics storage area.

Source http://www.kenilworthweeklynews.co.uk/news/local-news/south-warwickshire-luxury-car-brand-to-create-250-new-jobs-1-6087342

Teenagers steal luxury cars in a ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’ type raid

Like something out of a Hollywood block buster, a gang of teenagers have pled guilty to stealing luxury cars from the home of a millionaire.

Liam Smith, George Cowie and Blair Thomson, all 17, took off with sports cars from outside oil tycoon Sean Dreelan’s mansion in July.

Two of the teenagers – Cowie and Thomson – broke into the Banchory Devenick property and stole car keys – despite being too young to drive at the time.

The trio then drove away with the motors in the middle of the night.

Renovation work was being carried out on the grounds of Drumduan House as part of a major refurbishment programme at the time.

The secluded house was once protected by extensive security with intercom-operated large iron double gates at the bottom of the drive and CCTV cameras.

However, the driveway was opened last summer to let heavy machinery in to carry out landscaping work.

Family photographs shared on social media showed several super cars parked on the driveway – including a red Ferrari 599 GTO – before the thefts.

All the stolen vehicles were recovered and police eventually tracked down the car crime gang, who all lived in Aberdeen.

Yesterday Smith was told by the sheriff to expect a jail term for his part in the thefts when the case called at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

Sheriff Graeme Napier said: “You shouldn’t hold out much hope for anything other than a custodial sentence.”

Smith admitted stealing the Dreelan family’s white 2010 Porsche 911 GT2 RS coupe and grey Toyota Land Cruiser from outside Drumduan House, between 22 and 23 July, last year.

Donald Stewart
Sean Dreelan

 

 

The teenage thief also admitted stealing two other vehicles in separate incidents in the weeks leading up to the Dreelan family theft.

He pled guilty to nicking a grey 2006 BMW M sport touring estate from Lintmill Place, Aberdeen, on May 25, 2013.

The teen also admitted careless driving by crashing a red Triumph motorcycle he stole from the city’s Taransay Crescent on June 20.

Cowie previously pleaded guilty to breaking into Mr Dreelan’s home between July 22 and 23 and stealing car keys before making off with a grey 2010 Audi S5 V8 Quattro coupe.

Thomson was also part of the gang that broke into Mr Dreelan’s house to steal car keys.

He made off from the grounds of the mansion with a silver 2011 Aston Martin Rapide V12 as well as the same Toyota Land Cruiser as Smith.

Sheriff Napier called for reports on all three teenagers yesterday and deferred sentencing until next month.

Property owner Sean Dreelan made his fortune in the oil and energy industry in Aberdeen.

He and his three brothers – Tommy, Mike and Ciaran – founded a fast-growing oil service firm in 2001.

The oil services company was sold to Norwegian group Aker Solutions earning the brothers a share of nearly 100million pounds in 2008.

The Dreelan brothers continued in their roles with Qserv as it expanded worldwide, despite the change of ownership.

The sale of Qserv was the second big-money deal involving the Dreelans.

PSL was sold by Tommy, Sean and Mike for 45.5million pounds in 1998.

Source http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/crime/gone-60-seconds-teenage-car-3617496

 

Bookings have commenced for Mercedes India on upcoming models

We like to keep up to date on the luxury car market across the globe, especially India and China where they take luxury very seriously! Mercedes are making big waves in India at the minute and it doesn’t seem to be relenting any time soon.

Mercedes Benz India has commenced bookings for two of its upcoming models – the new GLA compact luxury SUV as well as the diesel version of the S-class, the S 350 sedan.

The Mercedes GLA compact luxury SUV is based on the front-wheel-drive MFA-platform that also underpins the A- and B-class. The SUV is comparable in size to the Audi Q3 and is expected to go on sale in India around the festive season. Mercedes dealers are currently taking orders for only one variant of the GLA, the GLA 220 CDI diesel. Mercedes Benz had showcased the GLA SUV at the Auto Expo 2014 earlier this year.

The Mercedes GLA 220 CDI is expected to come with a 2143cc diesel motor good for 167bhp. This is the same motor that does duty on the Mercedes A-class hatchback where it is detuned to put out 107bhp. The booking amount for the GLA 220 CDI is Rs 50,000 with deliveries being promised around September-October 2014.

Mercedes Benz has also started taking bookings for the diesel-powered S-class sedan. The S 350 CDI will be manufactured locally and will officially launch on June 5, 2014.

The Mercedes-Benz S 350 CDI will have similar equipment levels as the locally-made S 500, although it will skimp on certain features available on the range-topping version. The Burmester sound system will come without 3D surround system and there’ll be plain leather upholstery instead of nappa. The rear seat will be a bench instead of two individual seats. The S 350 CDI won’t have centre-armrest mounted tables for the rear passengers, nor chilling and heating cupholders. It will get a normal reversing camera instead of the 360-degree unit on the S 500. The Mercedes night-vision package also won’t be on offer on the S 350 CDI.

Mercedes is expected to price the S 350 CDI at around Rs 1.25 crore (estimated, ex-showroom). The Merc S 350 is a fair bit more expensive than direct rivals like the A8 L 3.0 TDI (Rs 1.12 crore), BMW 730Ld (Rs 1.02 crore) and the recently launched, locally assembled Jaguar XJ 3.0 TDI (Rs 92.1 lakh). The premium Mercedes is asking for over rivals can be put down to the fact that the S 350 is a whole generation ahead in terms of tech on offer. The booking amount for the S 350 CDI is Rs 5 lakh with deliveries being promised by end-June or early July.
Source http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-news/mercedes-s-350-cdi-gla-suv-bookings-commence-386483.aspx

Are luxury cars more affordable in todays market?

Do you think you can afford a luxury car? The luxury car market is going from strength to strength even through the recessions we have seen of late. More people are looking to invest in luxury cars, but don’t quite have the budget.

If you’ve been casting envious eyes on those Mercedes and BMWs in the office parking lot, you may be wondering if you could fit a luxury car into your budget. Luxury brands have been reading your mind and indeed have brought out more affordable models. But make sure you calculate all the costs that come with owning a luxury car — not just the purchase price.

You wouldn’t be the only one considering so-called entry-level luxury cars — those with purchase prices often starting under $35,000. Growth in this segment has been a major reason that luxury vehicles have increased their market share in recent years, according to an April report from analysts at the National Auto Dealers Association Used Car Guide. “The data suggests that the growth was due almost exclusively to new buyers entering the market,” not habitual luxury buyers trading down to less expensive models.

One of the entry-level luxury models’ best financial qualities is high resale value. And that leads to a more affordable way to drive a prestige model — by leasing it. The NADA Guide report notes that entry-level luxury cars on average retain 48.8% of their original value after three years, more than other luxury segments.
“The lower the rate of depreciation, the lower the lease payment,” notes NADA analyst Laurence Dixon III. For instance, the Lexus ES currently has a lease deal for $349 a month for two years with $2,999 due at signing.

Whether you get a good lease deal or buy the luxury car, that’s only the beginning of your expenses. As with any car, insurance, fuel maintenance and repair costs still have to be paid. To see the differential in costs, let’s compare an entry-level Mercedes-Benz C250 (selling at an average of about $35,900, according to TrueCar.com) with one of the best-selling midsize sedans, the Toyota Camry XLE, the best-equipped Camry with an average selling price of $23,061.

Here’s a look at comparative costs to own these cars:

Fuel Cost — The Mercedes, like most luxury cars, requires premium gasoline, while the Toyota, like most mainstream brands, uses regular. The current national average for regular is $3.64 a gallon vs. $4 for premium, according to AAA. The Mercedes C250, with a rating of 25 MPG in combined city and highway driving would rack up fuel costs of $2,400 per year, according to fueleconomy.gov. The Toyota, with a 28 MPG combined rating would come in at $1,950. That’s an extra $450 in your gas budget each year.

Insurance — First-time luxury car buyers are sometimes startled at their bill to insure that car. Following our example, InsuranceQuotes.com gives the following comparison for the two cars being insured in Northern California. For an age 40 married man or woman, the monthly insurance bill would be $173 for the Mercedes and $130 a month for the Toyota Camry. That’s more than $500 a year in extra insurance costs. To compare the insurance costs of your current vehicle to cars you might buy, go to Insurancequotes.com and scroll down the right side to the section called Car vs. Car. You can get an estimate using your age and zip code.

Maintenance — Oil changes and other routine maintenance typically cost more at luxury brand dealerships. As a selling point, some luxury brands like BMW offer free maintenance for the first 50,000 miles on a new car. But in our comparison, Mercedes-Benz does not offer a free maintenance program for this model. Toyota, unusually for mainstream brands, does have free maintenance for two years or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first.

Repairs — For repairs that go beyond standard maintenance, luxury dealers are also more expensive. You may be able to cut repair costs by avoiding dealers and going to independent repair shops that specialize, say, in German cars. But double check to see if that still meets the conditions of your warranty.

The comfort, style and prestige of owning a luxury car may in fact outweigh the extra costs for you. Just be sure you have an idea of those costs before you decide to buy or lease.

If you would like to experience a luxury car before going out and buying one, take a look at our website and see what we have to offer

Source http://www.cbsnews.com/news/thinking-of-buying-your-first-luxury-car/