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Luxury car brands scrambling to avoid a blue Christmas

DETROIT — When financial markets surge to new records, sales of luxury cars usually rise, too. Instead, October U.S. auto sales reports on Wednesday showed that a collapse in sales of luxury sedans is accelerating. Consumers have gradually shifted over to luxury sport utility vehicles from sedans in the past decade, but the trend — which has occurred in both the non-luxury and luxury sedan segments of the auto market — was particularly pronounced in October. Sales of Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz S-Class, long a global benchmark for large, premium sedans, plunged 49 percent in October, and are down 24.8 percent for the year to date. General Motors' Cadillac brand said it sold just 779 of its CTS sedans in October. Demand for that car, designed to compete with German luxury sedans, is down nearly 33 percent for the year. "There's still a significant portion of the market that wants a car, but I'm sure there were people who preferred a horse to a car at one point." Cadillac's best-selling model this year is the XT5 compact SUV, which has more than doubled sales from a year ago. The shift within the luxury vehicle market away from sedans toward SUVs of all sizes is forcing some of the most prestigious brands to scramble to add SUV models to their lineups or boost SUV production to meet demand. "In the short term, there will be pressure to add (consumer) incentives, cut production or both," said Cox Automotive analyst Michelle Krebs. "And we just don't see an end in sight to this trend." The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been trading at all-time highs, usually a good sign for luxury sedans, but as major automakers reported new U.S. vehicle sales for October on Wednesday, sales for passenger cars continued their slide while luxury SUV and crossover sales rose again. According to Kelley Blue Book data, in 2007 luxury sedans made up 7.6 percent of U.S. new vehicle sales, while luxury SUVs made up 4.2 percent. Through September this year, luxury SUVs made up just over 7 percent of the market, compared with 4.9 percent for luxury sedans. In the short term, luxury brands could use holiday season sales promotions to clear slow-selling sedans off dealer lots, analysts said. Toyota's Lexus brand said on Wednesday it will launch its "December to Remember" year-end sales promotion for the 18th straight year.

J.D. Power study sees new car dependability problems increase for first time since 1998

For the first time since 1998, J.D. Power and Associates says its data shows that the average number of problems per 100 cars has increased. The finding is the result of the firm's much-touted annual Vehicle Dependability Study, which charts incidents of problems in new vehicle purchases over three years from 41,000 respondents.
Looking at first-owner cars from the 2011 model year, the study found an average of 133 problems per 100 cars (PP100, for short), up 6 percent from 126 PP100 in last year's study, which covered 2010 model-year vehicles. Disturbingly, the bulk of the increase is being attributed to engine and transmission problems, with a 6 PP100 boost.
Interestingly, JDP notes that "the decline in quality is particularly acute for vehicles with four-cylinder engines, where problem levels increase by nearly 10 PP100." Its findings also noticed that large diesel engines also tended to be more problematic than most five- and six-cylinder engines.

Lexus RC F takes star turn in 'Men in Black: International' blockbuster

Here's a little car candy for the holidays. There have been three :Men in Black" films, the last one in 2012 (even though it seems a lot longer ago, doesn't it?). "Men in Black: International," due for release on June 14, looks like it will showcase its vehicles in a way the previous movies didn't, starting with getting the Lexus RC F ready for its close-up. This will be Lexus' second blockbuster turn in two years, after putting an LC in the line of fire in this year's "Black Panther". And if "MIB: International" gives off the whiff of petrol, that's at last partly because F. Gary Gray directs, the man behind 2003's "The Italian Job " and 2017's " The Fate of the Furious." This is the first "MIB" to give the agents a whiz-bang modern car. The most modern vehicle previously was a "new hotness" 2003 Mercedes-Benz E550 in the 2002 sequel, but that was primarily a joke referring to the 1986 Ford LTD, referred to as a "Ford P.O.S.," in the first movie. The third film, which took place in the sixties, used a 1964 Ford Galaxie. "MIB: International" includes a few throwbacks to the movies and the television series. The RC F goes airborne with the help of a big red button, just like that '86 LTD. A bigger and better hovercycle ties into the hovercycle from the TV show. The all-new move comes with a mid-seventies Jaguar XJ; whereas the first agents merely retrieved their weapons from the trunk, the XJ not only holds weapons, it disassembles into weapons systems. As Jalopnik noted, in many ways this movie " looks just like 'Thor: Ragnarok' but set in a different universe." Should go well enough with a bucket of popcorn and pail of Coca-Cola, though. Related Video: