I have to disagree with you; the A8, S, and 7er are "large luxury" class cars. The A6 and 5er are "midsize luxury" and the A4 / 3 are "entry luxury." One should also consider the Lexus LS, GS, GX, and LX, an occasional Cadillac, the Toyota Land Cruiser, a variety of Jaguars and Range Rovers, and on and on. It's dishonest to assert that Tesla is taking 8.4% of the entire "luxury market" and then sneak in with the next breath that the luxury market includes only flagship sedans.
Am I understanding correctly? You are putting audi A4/3($27K MSRP) into the same class as Jaguar(starts at $47K) and Range Rovers ($83K MSRP)? I think Tesla with it's price tag should go into a separate category from audi a4,3...
Yes, the US taxonomy includes a great swath of vehicles in the "luxury" main category, even though many of them are not directly comparable. For example, the US market would consider the Audi A3/A4 to be the luxury versions of the VW Rabbit/GTI and Passat, and generally the trim levels available in the US reinforce this: it is very unusual to see in the States any Audi with cloth seats, but not uncommon in Europe.
Hardly any Americans would place a BMW 550i in the "non-luxury" group, least of all BMW USA. It isn't the largest or most feature-jammed car in the fleet, but to Americans it is absolutely a luxury car.
This is largely due to the manufacturers. "Americans" don't decide that a 5-series is luxury, it's the manufacturers. You can't buy a BMW or Mercedes without all of the bells an whistles. You can't even buy many of the cheaper cars (i.e. A-Class) from those manufacturers in the US.
I would put the RS versions of the 5 & 6 in luxury and probably all the RS sort of qualify as would some of the S models (not the S Line thats just trim)
If you call A6 and 5-series luxury cars then half of Germany / northern Europe are driving luxury cars, that is by definition not luxury. Those are called "upper midrange" or "premium".
I'd like to join in on this game. How about this for an idea:
I disagree with both of you. Your categories are all are artificial and for people with "new money". It's a concern for those who seek to differentiate themselves from the rest the middle class by burning cash on these silly toys. Those with true wealth find this mundane and even distasteful.
