What Does a Luxury Car Even Mean These Days?
Six-figure trucks, entry-level Mercedes-Benzes and a bunch of new EVs make it difficult to pin down what makes a high-end vehicle so special.
Unveiled in 2023, the Phantom Syntopia sedan was the most cosmetically complex car Rolls-Royce ever created.
Source: Rolls-RoyceNew cars are more expensive than ever, with average prices in the US exceeding $50,000 for the first time in September, up 3.6% from 2024, according to auto research company Kelley Blue Book. Luxury cars are pushing that growth, according to KBB. The average price of a vehicle from Porsche AG is $115,407, the highest of any standard-production automaker. A Ferrari, on average, costs four times that amount.
But luxury is slippery to define when you can spend $42,000 on a Mercedes-Benz or $114,000 on a Ford pickup truck. In a world of tailored cashmere socks and gold-plated toothbrushes marketed as luxury experiences, the term has become so ubiquitous, it has almost lost all meaning.