What are premium cars and what differentiates them from traditional ones? Let’s find out the costs and differences of this market together.
Have you ever heard of premium car? There is no precise description that can classify a car in this sector, but generally cars capable of distinguishing themselves by elegance, luxury and the use of superior materials compared to more traditional counterparts.
It’s a market niche which, as you will understand, is reserved for a certain clientele of the public who has the desire and the possibility to spend certain amounts of money to buy a car in this segment.
One of the most popular premium brands is undoubtedly Audiwhich is among the leaders in Italy among the best-selling Premium cars, but we must not forget equally important car manufacturers such as Alfa Romeo, Cadillacs, Lexus, Infinite, DS and more.
How do you build a premium car and what changes from a normal car?
To try to find space in this sector, the main manufacturers have developed a sort of single platform with which they give life to what we could define as a basic car. From this we then start to design two or three variants intended for equally different markets.
The cheapest looks to the traditional segment, while with the evolutions we try to attack the premium marketwhose difference in some cases may however lie in a more luxurious set-up or a slightly higher engine.
To better understand what we are talking about, perhaps it is better to give some tangible examples.
Let’s take the case of Peugeot 2008the C-SUV of the French house whose premium variant is represented by the DS 7. The difference between the two cars is very minimal, with a slight surcharge for the second one. Same 300 bhp engines, different set-up, in favor of the DS.
Moving to Germany, let’s see the comparison between SUVs Volkswagen Touareg and Porsche Cayenne. The 462 horsepower engine is the same in both cars, but the price is quite different with one difference exceeding 10,000 euros in favor of Porsche. The fittings, the internal construction change and one gets the feeling of having a luxury car in one’s hands, even if the Touareg really has nothing to be ashamed of.
An Italian example is instead represented by Alfa Romeo Stelvio and from Maserati Grecale GT. The 300 HP engine of the latter has a slightly higher price than the 280 HP of the Stelvio. This is not a big difference, but enough to give Maserati that touch of exclusivity that a certain type of clientele is looking for.
The price gap that we have seen in these examples is therefore not really excessive, but there are cases in which it can become enormous, to underline the difference between a premium car and a “traditional” car.
The real example, then, is provided by the USA: Lincoln Navigator And Ford Expedition they differ with a 40% higher price for the first, despite the very similar engine. So then the Navigator has all the trappings to define itself as a premium car compared to its counterpart.
