Auto Industry's Best Luxury Cars
by EVANDER KLUM
Everybody��s searching for the best. And in the auto industry, what luxury cars are deemed the best of their class? Well, the right individuals to answer the query are the auto industry��s experts��
Lexus' dealerships offer some of the industry's cutting-edge perks and the brand's service department is famed for working overtime for auto shoppers. Lexus is just one of several luxury brands offering over-the-top dealership service that separates their vehicles from the rest - and instills buyer loyalty and satisfaction, according to Forbes.
"If you have one minor problem that's taken care of immediately," said Alexander Edwards, the automotive division president of the market research firm Strategic Vision, "you'll perceive your vehicle to be of a higher quality than if you'd had zero problems."
In the luxury car segment, the maxim is: if the car is not perfect, other aspects need to be. Why? That is because luxury-car buyers are purchasing more than the car itself. "Time cost is what's becoming the biggest factor," noted Milton Pedraza, the CEO of the Luxury Institute, a market research firm focusing on affluent consumers.
Auto shoppers are asking: "How easy is it to own this car?" The answer lies in key metrics that measure the worth of a luxury car, including price, reliability, consumer satisfaction, maintenance, and fuel costs.
In choosing the best luxury cars, experts at Forbes first looked at cost. Then, respecting the point that dealership service especially matters to luxury buyers, we considered the 2007 results of J.D. Power and Associates' annual Customer Service Index (CSI) scores, which gauges satisfaction with dealership service in the first three years of ownership.
Next, we looked to Strategic Vision's 2007 Total Value Index (TVI) scores, which assess one's complete ownership experience, including reliability and dealership experience, on a weighted scale, out of a possible 1,000 points, the company said. Finally, the company considered the overall five-year ownership costs, as compiled for 2008 models by Vincentric, a data analysis firm.
Joining the Lexus IS250 at the top of Forbe��s list were the Volvo V70 and the TL from the maker of Acura clutch discs. Experts say shoppers must also consider depreciation, fuel expenses, insurance premiums, maintenance and repair - all aspects included in Vincentric's ownership costs, which vary greatly from model to model.
Vincentric President David Wurster said that because luxury cars are considerably more expensive than more mainstream models, shoppers should be especially concerned with depreciation, which isn't always tied to sticker price. Using 2007-model-year data, for example, a $34,300 BMW 328xi, which is priced just below the $35,060 Jaguar X-Type sedan when new, is estimated to be worth over $3,000 more than the Jaguar after five years.
Perhaps the least tangible measure of value is a luxury automaker's reputation. Luxury auto shoppers are becoming more and more interested in cars from automakers that showcase green credo commitment. The environment, along with philanthropy and labor and trade policies, said Pedraza, are rapidly growing factors that lead well-informed luxury shoppers to look to a certain brand as greener luxury for the buck, even if the costs of the eco-friendly brand and its model add up to a bit more, he concluded.
Actually, the overall value of the car is much greater than its price. That is exactly the reason why lots of aficionados are absorbed in collecting luxury cars. It creates a distinctive status in the society.
