Luxury automakers are laying on the perks to increase sales in these tough economic times. If Joe Millionaire loses his tax breaks, he may not be able to buy a new Mercedes when last year's model gets dusty..
Nissan's Infiniti now offers free concierge service to new buyers. It includes unlimited 24-hour access to a team of personal assistants who provide driving directions, weather forecasts, dining suggestions, and sports scores through the car's Bluetooth System. What a great idea! Let's get our directions from some native Hindi speaker in New Delhi instead of our trusty GPS. Weather forecasts and sports scores from the radio are for the "little people". Infiniti drivers deserve personalized concierge-quality weather and sports! "Sunny and mild today just for you, Donald Trump. It will rain on everyone else. And the Yankees beat the Red Sox last night inspired by your brillance on Celebrity Apprentice."
Hyundai's Equus comes with an iPad in place of an Owner's Manual. Now you can ignore oil change intervals and tire pressure requirements electronically instead of on old-fashioned ink and paper. Equus also offers painless maintenance service. An Equus technician will come to your home or place of business when the vehicle needs service, leave a loaner car, take your original vehicle in for service and return it all ship-shape. No longer will Equus owners have to bum a ride from the shop or, horror or horrors, cram themselves into the dealer's Courtesy Van with common people for a ride to work.
Those Equus technicians deserve combat pay though. "Security Alert! Security Alert! A non-employee just drove away in our CEO's Equus. Close the gates. Load the AK-47s. Release the hounds."
Concierge service, electronic Owner's Manuals, and painless maintenance help, but the fool-proof way to get all those junior executives to empty their children's college savings accounts and purchase your luxury car is time-tested and obvious. Make sure that their CEO drives your luxury car brand.
Executive parking lots across America are like high school cafeterias. Everyone wants to drive / wear what the CEO / cool kids drive / wear. When I first entered Corporate World back in 1972, our CEO drove an Olds 88. The prime spots in the Executive Parking Lot, not surprisingly, looked like a GM dealership. His successor drove a gold Jaguar. In the blink of an eye, all those Detroit behemoths magically transformed into sporty British sedans. None of them were gold, though. You can't out-shine the Top Dog. A subsequent CEO favored BMWs. A BMW dealership actually opened near corporate headquarters to handle the demand.
A clever luxury manufacturer who gave a free cars to each Fortune 500 CEO would find his showrooms swamped with eager buyers.
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