Luxury car sales show the rich are spending less

[RamboLiberal]

Source: USA Today

Suddenly the rich aren't getting richer — and luxury car dealers are joining other high-end retailers in feeling the pinch.

Adding to a turnabout in once-resilient upscale goods, most luxury car brands saw sales drops last month.

Mercedes-Benz softened 3.7% compared with March last year, Autodata reports. BMW fell 8.7%, and Lexus plummeted 13.6%.

Overall, luxury vehicle sales are off almost 13% this year.



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2008-04-06-luxury-car-sales-dealers_N.htm

[napoleon_in_rags]

1. Bad news.

I've had the pleasure of talking to a lot of people who lived through the Great Depression, and one theme I heard over and over again is that the rich simply stopped spending, they freaked out and sat on their money, which brought everything down.

[Sherman A1]

2. There are several things in play right now

First of all the economy is screwed up... we worker bees all know that and it has been for us for a very long time. But now we have a couple of things going on for big money.

1). the trickle up of this screwed up economy and they just don't like it at all. It's upsetting them at their breakfast to watch their portfolios take hits.

2) an effect caused by the election in which big money holds their cash until they see which way the wind is blowing. It happens every 4 years. This was something my 88 year old Mom (I thought she was nuts at the time) told me about years ago and I noted it when I was running a small business. I am sure that some of it is caused by redirection of some cash into the campaigns themselves, but every election cycle my little hobby store would see a year of slower sales. Made no sense to me, but it was there and affecting the bottom line.

[liberal N proud]

3. So much for trickle down

Like we didn't all know it didn't happen anyway.

[sendero]

4. The problem is..

.... most of those cars are not purchased by the rich, they are purchased by the middle class trying to pose as rich.

This particular group of folks will be hit first and hardest, so it's no surprise that these vehicles' sales are down.

[soothsayer]

5. Yup. It's all those clerks who became subrime mortgage writers and got fat commissions

and now they're out on their asses

[madaboutharry]

6. I think you're on to something here.

I think it is a lot of the people who were trying to keep up with the Joneses who no longer have the means to keep up the charade. I have known many people from my kids' school and from my neighborhood
driving around in these cars and I know that there is no way that there income was more than ours. We would never in a million years spend $60 grand or more on a car, but there they were in Mercedes, BMWs, or a Lexus and all I thought was where did the $$$ come from. I think you are right, this is the middle class pulling back.

[wain]

7. I'm with you on this

I prefer to buy a three year old car with about 40K miles and keep it for several years. I let someone else pay the premium and for the expensive options. I could never dream of paying $60k for a car. Although, there was the day when the thought of $20k seemed outrageous!

[mikita]

10. I agree ....

it's a middle class squeeze. Upper middle at that.....

[Robb]

12. Nailed it

No chance of making a zero-down $1200 car payment any more, so adios Lexus.

Bugatti sales, meanwhile, remain flat. ;)

[TreasonousBastard]

13. Bingo! A lot of entry level luxury sales may be down, but...

every Ferrari is still sold before it's built.

[trof]

8. A friend drove our Prius. Traded her Escalade in one one.

The next week end.
I'm so proud of her.

[sam sarrha]

9. well they have taken everything have.. this wasnt very well thought out was it..? will they survive

the Riots.. this sort of thing breeds French Revolutions

[TheCowsCameHome]

11. Yeah, I cancelled the Rolls order, and auctioned off the Ferrari.

Times are tough in the land of beautiful people.

:banghead:

[flvegan]

14. Rolls Royce sales are UP 70%. The true "rich" have nothing to do with this.

Okay, so BMW might be feeling the pinch on their entry level models, like the 3 series (which is odd because BMW owned Mini is doing fine) and Mercedes C class might be down. These aren't bought by the rich, except maybe for their kids' 16th birthday.

Also, according to this article that I just read this morning, sales are UP from last month.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=am89s9mMO0_s&refer=germany

[Kip Humphrey]

15. The numbers suggest this is due to Yuppie shrinkage not Country Club rich downturn.