Are The Premium Automakers Hurting Or Helping Their Case By Expanding Into The Mainstream Class?

Of course it’s not ideal for a premium higher end automaker to tip toe downmarket at the risk of tarnishing your brand, but BMW saw the massive success of Merc’s CLA and thought to give it a try.

More mass market automakers are making once luxury-only features available in cars like the corolla and CR-V, so Benz countered it with their name/branding on something offered at a loaded Accord or CRV price.

The key is also putting out phenomenal higher end products as Benx did when launching the king of the hill S Class on the heels of the CLA, reinstating their high end image as they will do once again.

Notice how pictures of the forthcoming S Class were “leaked” around the same time as press launches for the A/CLA...Strategy

Thoughtful post.

Premium Automakers going downstream and economy autmakers are moving upstream.
Little Subaru actually is marketing a performance 2019 Subaru WRX STI for $45,000. (nuts!)

BMW needs to just go back to the drawing board for real.

Lol I think the drawing board wants a break from BMW...they need to step away and stop drawing so damn much haha

There is the law of diminishing returns when moving upmarket. Is an E-Class Mercedes really worth more than twice as much as a Honda Accord? Yes because you are buying into the brand with top engineering, build materials and hopefully materials.
But, is the new A-Class worth twice as much as a Honda Civic? No. That over the top cache does not translate downmarket. This is why MB could not manage Chrysler.
Likewise, mainstream manufacturers, although they have luxury division,s cannot match bespoke luxury vehicles.

They had no choice from a competitive, efficiency or survival standpoint.

BMW and Mercedes had no choice. They needed to increase volume but did not have a brand to go near-premium with.

The perplexing thing is VWAG letting VW have the Touareg and Arteon that are priced like Audis.

I think it was a mistake, especially the 2 GC. There is no real need to continue to expand your market share by moving into new segments. This car will never handle like a BMW should no matter what they do. It is based on a fwd platform with the lump of a motor hanging in front of the front axle creating a car with a high polar moment of inertia which in turn will dull any rapid direction changes and loosing that feel of a nicely balanced front-mid engine car. It also looks awkward for a BMW, wheels are no longer pushed out to the corners, like all fwd based cars the front wheels are back by the door opening with a long front overhang. They did try to hide it a bit with the scoops and stuff going back along the lower front side. They should have done something with the 2 series coupe, stretch it a bit...

I think we need to be careful when describing premium brands going "mainstream". They're not really going mainstream, per se. Just because a car is in the same price class, does not make it mainstream. There is a big difference in a fully loaded Accord/Camry vs. a fully loaded A-Sedan or A3. Though they may be in the same/similar price class, they are not competing against each other. The Accord/Camry are spacious inside, have lower build quality, may not have as many amenities, and are not built as solidly.

Now, with regard to the CLA and 2GC, these are even LESS mainstream since they are even MORE space-constrained (especially the outgoing CLA) and much less practical than mainstream cars in the same price range.

The same can be said about a $50K loaded GLA vs. a $50K Honda Pilot. VAST differences in the cars despite being at the same price point.