What defines a premium vehicle in 2014?
Discussion
Hi,
I am not new to pistonheads but I am to this forum so what better way to start off a debate. I am a lucky finalist in the Sir William Lyons award hosted by the Guild of Motoring Writers and I have been asked to conduct a media campaign to showcase my piece about 'What defines a premium car in 2014?'
The main reason I am here though is because aside from being a piston head I would like to know from all of you what your views are on the definition of a premium car in 2014? I hope to compile all of these views and opinions into a final piece for my blog. All views will be welcomed enormously!
Many Thanks
James Locker
Moderator edit: no linking to your own external sites please.
I am not new to pistonheads but I am to this forum so what better way to start off a debate. I am a lucky finalist in the Sir William Lyons award hosted by the Guild of Motoring Writers and I have been asked to conduct a media campaign to showcase my piece about 'What defines a premium car in 2014?'
The main reason I am here though is because aside from being a piston head I would like to know from all of you what your views are on the definition of a premium car in 2014? I hope to compile all of these views and opinions into a final piece for my blog. All views will be welcomed enormously!
Many Thanks
James Locker
Moderator edit: no linking to your own external sites please.
Edited by jeremyc on Tuesday 11th November 09:04
LukeR94 said:
Something a commoner couldnt own, and something a villain could be seen in.
That, simply, defines a premium car.
Therein lies the problem, due to finance, company cars, all that sThat, simply, defines a premium car.
te, people who wouldn't even dream of rolling around in a mid size executive saloon now are. I think it's very hard to say what a premium car now is. Diesel equals practicality, cost-efficiency, whereas the petrol equivalent will likely be more expensive to run (though potentially slightly cheaper to buy like-for-like). Take any manufacturer's halo model - is it equipped with a petrol or diesel engine? Take any two similar-sized engines from the same manufacturer, e.g. BMW's 3 litre variants - which is nicer to drive, and why?
Hi James
This is a tricky one.. Over time in virtually every area of life the game and standards are being raised year by year... I remember when electric windows were almost a zenith of luxury.. or hotels would proudly display ensuite or TV in room. The premium bar keeps getting raised.
I think premium could be boiled down to the essence of an 'aspirational brand' in the eyes of the customer. This is a function of Brand Equity and the management of the brand... this is a very delicate balance... At its most basic it is the sliders of Price, Product, Place and Promotion... tuned to particular customers....
You may remember paralells in other industries. Burberry for many years was a premium product, but it did lose its way a few years ago...and became almost mainstream... careful management brought it back and it is now considered premium again.
Automotively look at how Lexus developed its premium positioning... It is a well documented case history...or indeed how Hyundai, just decided it will become premium...note what they are doing in the USA...
I think certain brands will always be premium e.g. Mercedes Benz and BMW, to mention just two...incredible care is taken to ensure they remain there as that positioning is directly related to the value of the company.
Anyway there you go... my view
Cheers
A
This is a tricky one.. Over time in virtually every area of life the game and standards are being raised year by year... I remember when electric windows were almost a zenith of luxury.. or hotels would proudly display ensuite or TV in room. The premium bar keeps getting raised.
I think premium could be boiled down to the essence of an 'aspirational brand' in the eyes of the customer. This is a function of Brand Equity and the management of the brand... this is a very delicate balance... At its most basic it is the sliders of Price, Product, Place and Promotion... tuned to particular customers....
You may remember paralells in other industries. Burberry for many years was a premium product, but it did lose its way a few years ago...and became almost mainstream... careful management brought it back and it is now considered premium again.
Automotively look at how Lexus developed its premium positioning... It is a well documented case history...or indeed how Hyundai, just decided it will become premium...note what they are doing in the USA...
I think certain brands will always be premium e.g. Mercedes Benz and BMW, to mention just two...incredible care is taken to ensure they remain there as that positioning is directly related to the value of the company.
Anyway there you go... my view
Cheers
A
a white 4x4 with a fairly poor ride, a 4wd system which is entirely useless, a £5k sat nav infotainment system with less functionality than a £200 tablet, blue lights all over the dash board, with red needles on the dial to make it harder to focus on and of course not forgetting a keyless ignition which a new key can be setup by anyone via the obd port with £99 unit from ebay.
I think it has become blurred.
In days gone by there would be expectations around a better-than-average performance level, better interior materials such as wood and leather, better equipment such as air conditioning and perhaps cruise control and electric mirrors, and better comfort. Replace wood with aluminium nowadays and you can get all that and more in a Vauxhall which definately isn't the definition of a premium vehicle.
Frankly all of it implied more cost and that was the differentiator. You could either buy cash or via HP, and if you couldn't, you couldn't. Having it used to be a status symbol. Some might say it was to show the neighbours that you'd 'made it'. I suspect many just wanted it for their own sense of pride.
Premium now just means a desireable image. The mechanisms which govern what is or is not desirable to the aspiring working~middle classes is probably harder to fathom out with any accuracy than what defines a premium car.
In days gone by there would be expectations around a better-than-average performance level, better interior materials such as wood and leather, better equipment such as air conditioning and perhaps cruise control and electric mirrors, and better comfort. Replace wood with aluminium nowadays and you can get all that and more in a Vauxhall which definately isn't the definition of a premium vehicle.
Frankly all of it implied more cost and that was the differentiator. You could either buy cash or via HP, and if you couldn't, you couldn't. Having it used to be a status symbol. Some might say it was to show the neighbours that you'd 'made it'. I suspect many just wanted it for their own sense of pride.
Premium now just means a desireable image. The mechanisms which govern what is or is not desirable to the aspiring working~middle classes is probably harder to fathom out with any accuracy than what defines a premium car.
A premium vehicle is very much in the eyes of the owner and we all like to justify our own choices along the way. Technically, premium in the context of goods means something where a person is willing to pay more than the bare minimum required to obtain a product. Now depending on whether you treat the commodity "car" as the product or whether you treat the specific model as the product will also affect what is considered premium. This is for me why some people would rank a Mondeo 2.0TDCi Titanium X over a 316d SE, because one is the entry point to the range whilst the other is near the top. The fact that others think the BMW worthy of buying for the same money leaves you with the most externally obvious aspect of premium (though not necessarily the main aspect)
- The Badge - Whether people wish to admit it or not, the brand of a product is important to people and how they are perceived by others and themselves. This affects things other than cars too and in most cases you can see "mid-market" products and services suffering whilst value and luxury brands do well, nobody wants to be seen as "average" any more, now you either have to appreciate quality or appreciate the best quality for a given value. If you try and cover both you struggle (Think large Vauxhall's, Citroen's and Tesco) whereas if you focus (Mercedes, JLR, BMW, Audi, Bentley, Dacia, Hyundai, Skoda, Kia) you tend to be more successful.
- NVH - A premium car handles NVH appropriately for the type of vehicle. In a sports coupe I want to hear an appealing exhaust note/engine note and feel connected to the road. In a saloon/SUV/family car I want to be isolated from as much sound as I possibly can be with a smooth (but not necessarily "floaty") ride. In particular for me road noise is a huge bug bear as is engine noise at speed, where even a modern 6 cylinder diesel will have poorer harmonics and noise values than a given petrol, witness the earlier poster who said a premium car had to be petrol. I agree with them on that in general.
- Technical Innovation - Use of intelligent engineering to reduce emissions and increase performance from the drivetrain e.g. ZF 8HP transmission. Use of electronics to actively make driver's life easier but are not truly essential (BMW Adaptive Lights, Mercedes S-Class Driving systems). Where technical innovation ceases to be premium is where it's either too invasive (over zealous lane assist), can make a driver complacent (blind spot indicators) or affects another quality (Stop/Start affecting NVH in some vehicles).
- Leather and Soft Plastics inside - Proper leather that is, after all there is a mile of difference between the semi-plastic base leather provided in a 3-Series and the premium leather available as an option, never mind Aniline Leather in a Range Rover. Soft plastics offer more than just a nicer appearance, they are less likely to reflect sunlight affecting visibility (anyone who has driven a Citroen Xsara into the sun on a Winter's day will have experienced the top of the dash reflecting on the screen)
- Ergonomics given consideration - Everything can have a control in a car but has someone actually thought about where each item should be relative to the others? Some control layouts are much more of a dogs dinner than others.
- Service - Does your dealer treat you like you spend money with them or not. It's not the car but it is part of how you feel about the car and whether it's premium. I sold my Audi because of an unacceptable response made by Audi HQ around a paintwork issue on a 40 month old car. They treated my custom with contempt and so within 3 months I'd moved to a competitor's product despite ten years of brand custom.
- Handling - Even in a saloon or estate you don't want a car that can't control it's own movements appropriately. Soft and controlled is fine, riding like a sailing boat in a heavy sea isn't, just as sporty and agile is fine but riding like the delivery blocks are still in and shaking everyone is not
- Performance - It should be quicker than your average 2.0TDi car
- Linear progressive controls - You need to be able to brake not just stop
I was with Chris (above) until he revealed that he was an Audi buyer for 10 years. He must repent loudly and repeatedly before he is allowed a view.
I think the whole concept of a premium car is defunct. All marques now produce crap cars as well as good ones, so the only way to know whether or not any given car is in fact premium is to drive it.
For example, in my view, a premium car cannot have a crappy engine. If you apply that rule, a lot (perhaps most) of the BMWs, Audis and Mercs on the road are not premium cars. A 316d in whatever spec is not a premium car because it has a povvo-spec, horrible, gutless engine; most C-Classes that I see have nasty 4-pot diesels or the very poor Merc 1.8 turbo petrol.
I think the whole concept of a premium car is defunct. All marques now produce crap cars as well as good ones, so the only way to know whether or not any given car is in fact premium is to drive it.
For example, in my view, a premium car cannot have a crappy engine. If you apply that rule, a lot (perhaps most) of the BMWs, Audis and Mercs on the road are not premium cars. A 316d in whatever spec is not a premium car because it has a povvo-spec, horrible, gutless engine; most C-Classes that I see have nasty 4-pot diesels or the very poor Merc 1.8 turbo petrol.
ORD said:
I was with Chris (above) until he revealed that he was an Audi buyer for 10 years. He must repent loudly and repeatedly before he is allowed a view.
It's a fair cop really! I repent my VAG like tendencies and have turned to the virtuous path of RWD 
Still repenting here
and here...
Still going
For me, a premium car is one that sells for a higher price than the spec sheet can justify (hence the term "premium"). It doesn't matter whether that's because the car is better than the sum of its parts or just because the owner thinks it is - whether the car is actually any good or not has no bearing on the matter.
kambites said:
For me, a premium car is one that sells for a higher price than the spec sheet can justify (hence the term "premium"). It doesn't matter whether that's because the car is better than the sum of its parts or just because the owner thinks it is - whether the car is actually any good or not has no bearing on the matter.
That's probably the only sensible meaning that can be given to the term, and it means it is largely down to badge.Premium used to mean exclusive and above the average income to some extent. Not highly exclusive like your supercars and sports cars of the world, but more exclusive than a run-of-the-mill hatchback.
Now-a-days it doesn't really. The advent of low-cost finance has made such cars more affordable to more people, so now it is more about how that car makes your average individual feel when they drive it.
Most people who drive a Ford or a Peugeot aren't like to feel "special" in any particular way. But your average man in a C class or 3 series or similar car will feel more "special". Obviously this doesn't hold true for everyone for many reasons but in the main, it is true.
In short, premium products are aspirational. More-so, they are aspirational within a brand as well. For instance, BMW will get you in the door to buy a 1 series with the hope that you stay with the brand and move up the product ladder. There are very few people who have a burning desire to want to own a 1.6TDCi Focus or Fiesta or equivalent, but who will want to drive an Audi / Mercedes / BMW / Jaguar etc.
I don't think it's enough any more to offer a piece of equipment and call your brand premium. The brand in question has to make people want the product because of what it says about them, more than what it has or doesn't have or even what how it performs.
When you have a proper interest in cars then the criteria changes somewhat and it becomes more about the performance and the qualities of the car in question i.e. the powertrain or the chassis dynamics. There is a reason that petrol heads covet cars like the E46 M3 or the Lotus Elise and it isn't necessarily because they are good cars, but in fact because they have qualities that make them stand out far more than their alternatives.
Now-a-days it doesn't really. The advent of low-cost finance has made such cars more affordable to more people, so now it is more about how that car makes your average individual feel when they drive it.
Most people who drive a Ford or a Peugeot aren't like to feel "special" in any particular way. But your average man in a C class or 3 series or similar car will feel more "special". Obviously this doesn't hold true for everyone for many reasons but in the main, it is true.
In short, premium products are aspirational. More-so, they are aspirational within a brand as well. For instance, BMW will get you in the door to buy a 1 series with the hope that you stay with the brand and move up the product ladder. There are very few people who have a burning desire to want to own a 1.6TDCi Focus or Fiesta or equivalent, but who will want to drive an Audi / Mercedes / BMW / Jaguar etc.
I don't think it's enough any more to offer a piece of equipment and call your brand premium. The brand in question has to make people want the product because of what it says about them, more than what it has or doesn't have or even what how it performs.
When you have a proper interest in cars then the criteria changes somewhat and it becomes more about the performance and the qualities of the car in question i.e. the powertrain or the chassis dynamics. There is a reason that petrol heads covet cars like the E46 M3 or the Lotus Elise and it isn't necessarily because they are good cars, but in fact because they have qualities that make them stand out far more than their alternatives.
ORD said:
kambites said:
For me, a premium car is one that sells for a higher price than the spec sheet can justify (hence the term "premium"). It doesn't matter whether that's because the car is better than the sum of its parts or just because the owner thinks it is - whether the car is actually any good or not has no bearing on the matter.
That's probably the only sensible meaning that can be given to the term, and it means it is largely down to badge.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff