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6 luxury car brands to watch in 2024

2023 was a healthy year for the auto industry, and even with incentives returning and dealer lots filling up, there's plenty to like about the market if you build luxury automobiles, and we expect 2024 to be more of the same, which makes luxury-segment rivalries all the more interesting. Top luxury car brand rivalries? Well, that sounds downright uncivilized. But we know better, don't we? And when every quarterly sales update is an opportunity to remind somebody else that they bought the wrong status symbol, well, who can resist? Certainly not the diehard customers who fly their favorite brands' banners high.  Read more: Auto sales: Industry records best year since 2019 Read more: 2023 auto sales and 2024 preview: Ford Bronco vs. Jeep Wrangler This is a tricky segment to define, but essentially, we're looking at luxury car brands with depth to their portfolios and dealerships that exist to attract real-world customers. The Bentleys, Rolls-Royces and McLarens of the world are luxury cars, certainly, but we're more concerned with brands that have a bit more mass appeal — manufacturers who treat supply constraints as fiascos rather than features. If you disagree with our selections, feel free to let us know in the comments.  And since we're mostly concerned with finishing order, the luxury brands and totals featured here may change as new data come in throughout 2024. Due to the wild swings of the past several years, we're treating 2023 as the baseline by which we'll measure sales performance. And rather than rank brands vs. their finishing order in 2022, when supply-chain and inflationary issues still played havoc with sales figures, we're starting 2024 off with a clean slate.  The mainstream luxury segment is always a dogfight, but with their varied approaches to electrification all of the major luxury brands are in the midst of reshaping the premium landscape. Who is doing it right? Well, according to U.S. shoppers, the usual suspects are up to their old tricks.

Lexus nixes RC convertible in favor of LS-based 3-row crossover [w/poll]

When Lexus unveiled the LF-C2 concept at the LA Auto Show last week, it did two things: it previewed the direction in which the Japanese luxury automaker's design department was looking for the immediate future, and it previewed a cabrio version of the RC coupe (to replace the IS Convertible) on the other. But the latter, according to new reports, was ruled out before the concept ever took the stage. Although the prospect of a convertible version was engineered right into the RC coupe's chassis, Motor Trend reports that plans to put such a vehicle into production were met with hostility by Lexus dealers, who were offered a two-door convertible instead of the three-row crossover they've been lobbying for. As a result – and with a finite amount of development bucks on hand – Lexus is reportedly listening to its dealers, axing the RC Convertible program and proceeding instead with a seven-seat crossover. Plans to stretch the RX were reportedly ruled out, so Toyota is reportedly proceeding instead with a new model to be based on the LS sedan. The new model would take aim at the likes of the Mercedes GL, Audi Q7 and Infiniti QX60 when it arrives in three years as a 2018 model. It's not the first time we've seen Toyota listen to dealers asking for a high-end people-mover: Earlier this year, dealers in Japan asked the automaker for a luxed-out minivan, prompting it to build the Esquire van just for the Japanese Domestic Market.

Sell your own: 2003 Lexus SC 430

This is part of an occasional look at what's for sale on Autoblog. Looking to sell your car? We make it easy and free. Quickly create listings with up to six photos and reach millions of buyers. Log in and create your free listings. At the Lexus SC 430 preview - in the spring of 2000 - the disappointment among automotive journalists was palpable. Lexus had taken the truly captivating design of the first-generation SC and essentially disregarded it, replacing the earlier architecture with one drawn by Toyota's team in Europe. The contrast wasn't as strong (or dysfunctional) as when the Jag E-Type morphed into the most unfortunate XJ-S in 1976, but it was close. Some seven years after production of the SC 430 ended, however, a coupe/convertible prospect has the benefit of both hindsight and nostalgia. Lines that once looked almost awkward when juxtaposed against the first SC are softened by time. And while the SC 430's retractable roof wasn't the first execution of a coupe/convertible hardtop, you can assume it works more predictably than its German counterparts. While purportedly seating four, this is a tight 2+2. But with V8 power and a 3,800 pound curb weight, the SC 430 is a substantive, comfortable way of propelling yourself down the road; think of it as a Miata for those wearing 'plus' sizes. This for-sale example, with 165,000 miles, is well-used, and its $9K asking price is at the top of the dealer range. But if you like its color and equipment, a well-maintained Lexus should - and could - give you another 100,000 miles of reliable service. Related Video: