Luxury auto sector: crisis, what crisis?
- Source: Global Times
- [08:26 September 18 2009]
- Comments
Disregarding an industry-wide crisis, auto manufacturers are spreading on the luxury at the Frankfurt Motor Show that began Tuesday, with one example being a new blood-red Mercedes with 571 horses under the hood and gull-wing doors.
The SLS AMG roadster, which harks back to the mythical 1950s-era Mercedes 300 SL, will cost a princely 177,000 euros ($260,000) when it goes on sale next year.
It was designed before the auto sector hit one of its worst crises ever, AMG boss Volker Mornhinweg stressed.
The model was a hit Wednesday, with lovers of powerful cars pressing around it before heading to the Maseratis, Aston Martins and Lamborghinis with female models often planted next to them.
"These projects were created five, six or seven years ago when the economy was booming, when we thought personal wealth was a stable segment," IHS Global Insight auto analyst Christoph Stuermer said.
When the crisis erupted, it was too late to change.
"It costs more to eliminate a program than to continue it," noted Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, a professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
All the new luxury models are supercharged, super luxurious and seem to come from a different era.
They range from Bentley's new Mulsanne to Jaguars or the latest Ferrari F458, which zips from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in 3.4 seconds and can hit 325 kilometers per hour with a seven-speed gearbox derived from Formula One racing.
It also spews out 307 grams of carbon dioxide for every kilometer traveled, well more than double the European Union target of 120 grams.
Although auto manufacturers have been forced by the global crisis to focus more closely on cars that cost and pollute less, the luxury market remains a hotly contested niche.
