What Separates A Luxury Vehicle From the Pack

For today's (admittedly short) post, I want to open the forum on what truly makes a "luxury" vehicle a luxury vehicle. Back in the late 90's and early 2000's, luxury vehicles truly stood on a pedestal all their own. Makers like Audi, BMW and Mercedes were considered among many true tier luxury vehicles. Usually swaddled with leather and fine woods on the inside, advanced (for the time) technological features, and comfortably powerful engines. Thrown into the mix were Japanese competitors Acura, Infiniti and Lexus who brought their best to combat these luxury giants. Lexus gained infamy for its dealership experience and high reliability marks. Infiniti, although facing a bleak beginning, soon was able to niche into its own as one writer described as "the Japanese BMW." Acura still is strangely in limbo, trying to shed it's image as simply "nicer Hondas" and with their new advances in technology they are truly setting their crosshairs on the heavy hitters.

But these days, what do you perceive as luxury? 
Simply a leather strewn interior? You can get that in a Honda Civic.  Turbocharged engines? Most modern brands have at least one or multiple turbocharged offerings. Advanced features such as swiveling headlamps and passive entry? Available on your well endowed Mazda3. So how are these poised luxury brands reaching ahead of the pack? Each is approaching at a different angle but they have certainly all made a strong case for themselves as true luxury vehicle manufacturers.

Let's get into some examples. Recently, Audi is approaching more and more to the autonomous vehicle. In fact, it is one of the most mainstream brands that is most nearing to the technology. True, Google has been testing their own autonomous technology on the homely Prius. But Audi wants to take that further. They are working to create a system that can actually take you to your destination, allow you to exit your vehicle and then find a parking spot and park all without any driver assistance.  It is ideas and (hopefully) executions like this that start to put space between luxury brands and more commonplace brands.


Another example that comes to mind is Mercedes-Benz. Not only does Mercedes lay claim to creating the "original" automobile, they have pioneered the streamlined integration of features such as seatbelts and air bags. While resting on those laurels might be sweet, they need to press and advance to keep one cut above the rest. Their modern offerings can be had with complete LED lighting inside and out, "magic" sunroofs and complete leather interiors rivaling offerings from extreme luxury giants Bentley and Rolls-Royce.

So what do you think? What is your idea of "modern" luxury. Does it simply come down to leather here and there, maybe a splash of wood trim and calling it a day? Or does every single detail and feature of the vehicle work in cohesion to give the customer the most absolute luxury experience.

Interesting Facts You May Not Have Known in the Automotive World

Let me apologize in advance for that click-bait title. It's hard not to follow the all-powerful Buzzfeeds example because it just works so darn well. But ah yes, as the title states today I want to go over a few things about the automotive world that your common pedestrian might not know. There isn't much that is "secret" about the car business, it is fairly cut and dry. However, there are quirks and neat facts about these companies that (still) surprise others when I mention it to them. If you breeze through this list and aren't seeing any new information than perhaps we should get together because you are the kind of person I want to be friends with. But, on to the point!

Did You Know?...

Volkswagen houses a crazy number of different car companies

Volkswagen has a much higher presence in other parts of the globe than here in the United States and the list of companies under its corporate umbrella are staggering. There is, of course, Volkswagen. But also included are:

-Audi

-Bentley

-Bugatti

-Ducati (Motorcycles)

-Lamborghini

-Porsche

-SEAT*

-Skoda*

* brands not available in the U.S.

This makes VW synonymous with GM as a giant vehicular force to be reckoned with because of it's brand diversity and size!

Acura=Honda, Infiniti=Nissan, Lexus=Toyota

This one I have found a 50/50 balance of those who know and those who had no clue. In 1986, Honda was one of the first mainstream manufacturers to create a "premium, luxury" brand. The vehicles Acura introduced relied heavily on Honda components but were devised to be more luxurious and upscale to set them apart from the lesser pack. 3 years later, both Nissan and Toyota were not going to sit idly by and offered their own luxurious counterparts, Infiniti and Lexus, respectively. In modern day, these brands have gone to great lengths to differentiate their mainstream offerings and upscale offerings and it's a formula that has proved to be very successful. All praise to Honda however, for without Infiniti and Lexus might not exist.

Sexy, right?

Almost all "import" vehicles are actually made here in the United States

Due to the rising cost of importing vehicles from countries such as Japan and Germany, automakers are shifting their production to right here in North America. This is important for multiple factors: it reduces the cost of importing, meaning vehicle price would be lower to balance this, it provides multiple jobs for Americans every year, it lessens the time of production if a vehicle is ordered, and so on. For example, various Volkswagen models are made in Tennessee. The vast majority of BMW SUVs are actually created in South Carolina. However, this isn't to say each and every component of the vehicle is American, quite the contrary. Most parts are actually imported but then assembled at the plant here.

I aimed to keep this list fairly short and simple, as I will add different facts and info throughout the life of this blog so make sure you check back every so often and you might just learn something new for once!

-Cameron