Luxury car sales go up during recession

Luxury car sales rose by 10 per cent last month compared with the previous year, even as overall Canadian auto sales fell down by 3.5 per cent.

Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Lexus all reported sales were up from September 2008.

Moreover their month-by-month sales numbers are even more impressive.

BMW lead the luxury segment in Canada in September 2009, with its sales up 50.1 per cent to 2,402, compared with August 2009.

Mercedes-Benz sales were up 24.9 per cent to 2,248, whereas Audi sales increased 17.1 per cent to 1,111, and Lexus sales increased 11.3 per cent to 1,504.

By contrast, General Motors sales declined by 23.4 per cent whereas Honda's sales were down 12.2 per cent and Toyota's sales were down 11.1 per cent.

Auto industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers said the figures should not be a surprise. Even in a recession, individuals with "real money" are looking for quality.

Dennis DesRosiers said carmakers have also introduced entry-level luxury vehicles, "so they have accommodated the luxury buyer that still wants luxury but is constrained on cost."
The head of Mercedes-Benz Canada said the luxury car manufacturers are familiar with what their customers want and have done a better job at serving them.

"The domestic manufacturers lost first their focus on quality, on improvement and on brand, and then they lost their customers, and the consumers were gained by the Japanese and Asian import brands," says Marcus Breitschwerdt, president as well as CEO of Mercedes-Benz Canada, told Canadian Press.

He also noted that sometimes it might be a better deal to buy a more expensive product that lasts longer and better fits your requirements.

"In the part of Germany where I am from originally, we constantly said, 'we are too poor to buy cheap'. So as an alternative of buying three times something which is economical but which is not really fitting your needs and maybe is not as durable or reliable, you would rather pay out a little bit more at the beginning and then have a 100 per cent perfect match."