That Luxurious Feeling

While the sales of compact, inexpensive cars are declining rapidly at one end of Detroit's price spectrum, sales of luxury cars--those with basic prices above $4,000--are doing better than ever at the other end. Benefiting from the consumer's urge to "trade up" in times of prosperity, the luxury cars are rolling along at a record 400,000 annual-sales rate, have raised their share of the market from 3.9% to 4.6% since 1963. General Motors' Cadillac, the long-established expensive-car leader, has set new sales records for 16 consecutive ten-day periods, this year had its best first quarter in history. Lincoln Continental is in its fifth straight year of sales increase, has doubled its 1960 sales rate.

Aware of the trend, others have invaded what was once the domain of Cadillac (basic Detroit price for a four-door sedan with standard equipment: $5,247), Lincoln ($6,292) and the Chrysler Imperial ($5,795). The Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight, the Buick Electra 225 and the Chrysler New Yorker, top models in traditional medium-price lines, have evolved into luxury cars and penetrated the $4,000 mark. A growing array of luxury sports cars has also entered the field. Copying the early success of Ford's Thunderbird ($4,486 for a two-door hardtop), Detroit has made such entries as the Buick Riviera ($4,408), the Oldsmobile Starfire ($4,148) and Chrysler's 300-L ($4,168). The new sports cars combine racy lines, bucket seats and consoles, and plush, gadget-filled interiors, can cost more than the least expensive Cadillac, when accessories are added. Cadillac goes higher than any other car, however: its Seventy-Five limousine costs $9,960, and a raft of accessories can drive the price of a Cadillac as high as $10,968.

Testing Pioneers. Luxury cars include as standard equipment the automatic transmission, power brakes and power steering that are optional on less expensive cars. More carefully assembled and inspected than other cars, they offer larger engines, better suspension and insulation, more comfortable seats. Every Lincoln Continental, for example, gets a twelve-mile road test before being delivered to the dealer. Accessories are also grander. For an extra $495, a Cadillac buyer can get a combination heating-and-air-conditioning system that automatically maintains the temperature of his choice throughout the year; for another $141, his car will be upholstered in genuine leather. Continental offers individually adjustable contour seats and a powered trunk lid that is unlocked and opened with a dashboard control. More than 45% of Imperial customers order vinyl-covered roofs for an additional $111.

The low-volume, high-profit luxury car has proved to be an ideal vehicle for market testing Detroit's expensive new accessories and styling ideas. Hydra-Matic, the first successful automatic transmission, started out on the Cadillac; so did the first auto tail fins, which spread through the industry before receding. Cadillac's turning lights, which provide side illumination during a turn, have been adopted by other G.M. divisions, will appear on the 1966 models of some competitors. The Lincoln Continental's handsome slab sides, introduced on the 1961 model, set a styling trend that still dominates Detroit; next fall Ford will bring out a Continental restyled for the first time in five years, will also reintroduce the two-door model dropped in 1960. As the expensive features have spread down into the market, they have created a whole new genre of car: Pontiac's Grand Prix, Chevrolet's Caprice, Ford's LTD.

Privileged Many. Who are the privileged many who buy luxury cars? The average Continental owner, Ford's Lincoln-Mercury division discovered in a recent survey, is 54 years old, earns $25,000 a year, and has completed more than two years of college. Nearly two-thirds of Continental owners are managers, proprietors or professional men. Even more impressive: although Continentals can cost as much as $8,500, 81% of the customers pay for them in cash.

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