Politically Correct Luxury Buyers Showing Restraint

Ward's AutoWorld ^ | Oct 1, 2009 | Eric Mayne

[equaviator]

They may not have been stung personally by the global recession, but luxury-vehicle buyers are mindful of those who have suffered.

So they are restraining themselves, luxury-marque executives tell Ward's at the Frankfurt auto show.

Given that many Maserati-brand aficionados own businesses so stricken by collapse they've been forced to cut their payrolls, moderated spending is “absolutely understandable,” says Maserati SpA CEO Harald J. Wester.

“They have my full respect; they are behaving morally and ethically correct,” he tells Ward's shortly after Maserati unveils the 433-hp GranCabrio. No pricing is revealed, but the car, expected to arrive in showrooms by spring 2010, likely will be positioned in the range of the $121,500 Gran Turismo S Automatic.

“You cannot (cut jobs) and show up next Monday with a new Maserati,” says Wester, whose sympathy is admirable considering the consumer pullback has contributed to the auto maker's 43.2% first-half net-revenue plunge, compared with like-2008.

However, through August, Maserati's global sales fell 35%, outperforming the market's 40% decline.

Mainstream luxury brands also have witnessed this phenomenon. Consumers fear this is not “the right time (to buy), from a social perspective,” says Andy Pfeiffenberger, vice president-Lexus Europe. They are being careful not to “send the wrong message to the people. A lot of this is going on.”

In the U.S., where the troubled economy sent the unemployment rate skyrocketing to 9.7% recently, luxury-car sales totaled 509,698 units through August, according to Ward's data, for a 31.5% drop from like-2008. This compares with the total light-vehicle market, which trailed prior-year by 27.8%.

“The dynamic at work is interesting,” says Audi of America Inc. President Johan de Nysschen. “The consumer still has the money. (Buying luxury) was just not considered to be the socially correct thing to do. People have become a little bit cautious about conspicuous consumption.”

When will they start spending? Next year, Pfeiffenberger says. “Not in a big way, but slightly.”

[equaviator]

“You cannot (cut jobs) and show up next Monday with a new Maserati,” says Wester.."

Oh, REALLY???...Since WHEN? Where does it say that? Who says? Who ARE these people???

[109ACS]

....and by not buying a fancy new car, the people who build them stay unemployed.

[Claud]

I know wealthy people running businesses who have taken 30-50% pay cuts themselves just so that they could keep as many of their staff members employed as possible.

Just good humanitarianism if you ask me.

[TXnMA]

Maserati Gran Cabrio

Small car.

Except for the snoot, it looks like your typical rice burner...

[equaviator]

Are they still “wealthy people” after the self-imposed salary reductions or do they really have that much “skin in the game”? Do you suppose they ask themselves what Jesus would do or does the Obama administration agenda try to suggest to them that it most certainly is what Jesus would do and therefore, everybody else should too?

I’ll bet there are many out there who’d still be wealthy enough (too much never being enough) without receiving any salary at all. Even small businesses should have the potential to be so successful.

I agree that some have had to, willingly or not, take the (paper) cuts with a grain of salt but it happens like that in a competitive environment whether in good times or bad.

I’ll bet there are lots of people who’s jobs are saved that way but they may still feel as though they’re futures are between a rock and a hard place and would seriously think about jumping at the chance to move to another job with a better future but that’s another bailout story altogether.