Interesting report for the New York Times, as luxury auto brands stay the course, and don’t want to be associated as a discounter…. Once you begin discounting, you can’t go back…
Given the state of the auto market, this would seem like a great moment for those with money or credit to buy a car. But while deals abound in the mass-market segments, the luxury market seems to be conducting business much as usual. Sales of top-of-the-line vehicles are down by almost a third from a year ago, not much different from the industry as a whole, according to Edmunds.com, a car-buying Web site. So it’s not as if the luxury market has been insulated in this downturn. Yet instead of courting customers, the dealers are keeping their normal limited business hours and making buyers search out incentives that mass-market companies make readily available. Like many potential luxury vehicle buyers, Julian Croxall, a technology director at a firm focused on hedge funds, is frustrated. He has narrowed his search to four brands — Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Range Rover. And within those brands, he knows which models he likes. He plans to make his decision after a test drive. That, however, is where he has been stymied.- from NYTimes