Ah, the smell of car wax and rubber tires.
The Orange County Auto Show kicked off car show season earlier this month with all sorts of rides,new, tricked out, muscle, electric, celebrity and even hydrogen models.
The day before the show opened to the public, media from around the world gathered to listen to Mark McNabb, vice president of marketing for Mercedes-Benz USA LLC, talk about the new luxury customer,not quite as rich as the old luxury customer,and the “democratization of luxury.”
For many years, luxury was expensive, McNabb said. “That’s changing,” he said.
New luxury customers may not have as much money as old luxury customers (who have more money than ever). But they’re willing to scrimp on other purchases to afford what they see as luxury items.
McNabb used a Costco parking lot in OC to make his point.
“It looks like a Fletcher Jones service lot,” he said.
People seek bargains so that they can afford luxury. That’s why Nordstrom and Target work together at the Irvine Spectrum Center.
Luxury automakers are reaching out to the masses, offering lower priced “entry level” cars. Sales of entry level Mercedes make up 21% of sales, McNabb said. Mid-priced models are half of sales, he said.
