Personal luxury car

In the United States, a personal luxury car was a specific automobile market segment. The originator of the classification is generally considered to be the 1958 four-seat Ford Thunderbird, which had no close competitor until its success led other manufacturers into this market niche.

Related Topics:
United States - Automobile - Market segment - 1958 - Ford Thunderbird

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A 'personal luxury car' is considered a luxurious automobile designed primarily for the pleasure of its driver and owner, rather than the comfort of its passengers. A full-size luxury car places the comfort of its passengers (both front and rear seat) at least as highly as the driver's.

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Most personal luxury cars had only two doors, showing that carrying rear seat passengers was not a priority and the car was not chosen by or for them. While not a true performance car, a personal luxury car has power and speed. Part of its market were those who couldn't afford a full-size luxury car, but another part of its market were people looking for something more enjoyable to drive. The personal luxury car's forté was highway and freeway cruising. The suspension was tuned for comfortable high-speed driving on the highway, being rather too soft for negotiating winding roads at speed, and the steering was generally lazy, slow-turning and fingertip-easy in the manner of a Cadillac rather than a Corvette. Top speeds were high, thanks to the high gearing used to give smoothness at lower speed, and the large engines fitted for the same reason. Engines were generally big, often V8, towards the top end of the manufacturer's size range, though not performance-tuned models. Transmission choices were few and automatic transmission de rigueur.

Related Topics:
Performance car - Cadillac - Corvette - V8

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Internally, these cars were well-appointed, offering nearly the appointments of a luxury car. Exterior styling was often dramatic and even extravagant; this class of car did much to popularize such items as hidden headlights, opera windows, and the vinyl roof.

Related Topics:
Luxury car - Opera windows - Vinyl roof

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The era of the true American personal luxury car lasted until around 1985, though many of the models continued in much shrunken form for quite a while. Today, this market segment is nearly dead among domestic cars, but similar imports from Japanese manufacturers like Lexus and Infiniti and European marques like BMW and Mercedes sell well.

Related Topics:
1985 - Lexus - Infiniti - BMW - Mercedes

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