Do you want to know what the top luxury car brands are for 2023? Well, the line between a luxury car and a mainstream car is blurrier today than ever. And whether you're shopping for a more comfortable, relaxing car with a heightened sense of luxury, or just a more mainstream car with a nicer interior and ride quality, choices abound. Let's take a look at what's available.
As mainstream brands like Ford, Mazda and Volkswagen load their lineups with features and upgraded materials, luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz and Lexus increasingly distill their traditional quality and aesthetics into smaller, more affordable packages.
As mainstream and luxury brands start to overlap, the price gap also narrows. Edmunds data found that the disparity between average mainstream and luxury vehicle prices shrank about 10% between the mid-2000s and mid-2010s. And while the current average transaction prices between luxury and non-luxury brands remain distant — $78K for the former, $43K for the latter — automakers in both categories are clearly looking for new buyers. So with regular brands pushing up and traditional luxury brands pushing down, what distinguishes the two?