Luxury Features

Using the information from Autotrader.com, a leading online marketplace for cars, in an article titled “Luxury Car Features That Improve Your Comfort,” I argue that many features that come standard on a luxury car aren’t included in an economy car, and these features make the overall driving experience of a luxury car much more comfortable.

A few standard features of a luxury car are:

1. Active Suspension The active suspension is a fairly new feature to the luxury car market. Active suspension uses a variety of different sensors to automatically adjust the suspension of the car, while driving, to create a more smooth ride. Active suspension analyzes the bumps in the road and reacts accordingly, reducing the amount of motion felt by the passengers, leading to a much more smooth ride than a traditional suspension. Traditionally, regular suspensions involve a system of rods, springs, and shock absorbers to absorb the impact of the road. There are no sensors in a traditional suspension system. An active suspension is more effective in that it adjusts the suspension accordingly to the road, and also adjusts the suspension when cornering, stiffening the suspension where and when it is needed. This feature would be too expensive to install and maintain on an economy car, although it may sometimes be offered as an upgrade depending on what make and model the consumer decides to buy. Economy cars aren’t made to be the most comfortable, in comparison to luxury cars, so the addition of the active suspension would be the last thing a manufacturer would think of installing; the manufacturer would rather upgrade the interior and increase aesthetic quality first to appeal to consumers, then upgrade the moving parts if needed.  

2. Ventilated Seats Personally, I think ventilated seats are such a great addition to any car, and I don’t know why anyone didn’t capitalize on this concept sooner. Ventilated seats are their own climate control system. They allow you to both heat and cool the seat. Heated seats are convenient, especially in the dead of winter when sitting in leather seats. Cooled seats are most convenient in the summer-time, allowing the user to cool the seat to their liking and reduce the temperature of the seat after being parked in the sun for hours. Cooled seats limit the use of air conditioning by directly cooling the passenger. This awesome feature has become mostly standard in the luxury car industry and is starting to make its way into the higher end economy cars, such as the Kia Optima. Having the choice of heated or cooled seats gives the user a choice, which is what comfort is all about.

3. Remote Start/Keyless entry Remote start is starting to become a popular trend among luxury cars. Remote start enables the driver to start their car from their key; the driver nor the key has to be physically present in the car. Lincoln has taken this step further, developing an app that allows the driver to remotely start their car from anywhere in the world (or so it seems). This feature is all about convenience for the user, which is what defines it as a luxury feature.  With the remote start feature, users don’t have to wait in the cold for their car to heat up on a freezing winter day, and users can slide right into a nice cool car on a hot summer's day. The remote start feature also can go hand in hand with a keyless entry feature. With the keyless entry feature, users don’t need to even touch their key to unlock their car. The car senses the proximity of the key and allows the user to unlock their car with a swipe of their finger on the door handle (in more recent keyless entry systems). But, this remote start feature is starting to catch on among economy car producers and DIYers. Previously, this feature was only developed and sold as standard options in high end luxury cars, such as Lexus, Bentley, or Cadillac. Keyless entry was right along side remote start on the list of standard luxury features. Now, companies have developed their own remote start system to install in just about any modern car. This luxury feature has penetrated the car market and is now offering its convenience to those who can’t afford to drop five or six figures on a luxury car. That being said, the keyless entry system still has yet to be replicated by third party manufacturers. Keyless entry is still ever present in the luxury car industry as a standard feature, and more economical car manufacturers, such as Ford, Volkswagen, and Honda, offer this feature as a add-on accessory, only coming standard on certain models and trim levels.

In my next blog post I will answer the question, "What features and new technologies are luxury car companies implementing to really distance themselves from the economy car market, as economy cars are slowly starting to implement luxury features in their design? What is the future of luxury design?"