Compact executive car

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The Alfa Romeo 159 is a compact executive car

Compact executive car is a mainly British car classification term applied to premium cars smaller than executive cars. In American English, they are usually referred to as Entry-level luxury car or near-luxury car, though the US classification also includes vehicles not sold or categorized in Europe. Compact executive cars are usually available in saloon, estate, coupĂŠ and cabriolet body styles.

Dimensionally, these vehicles are smaller than mid-size/large family cars, and sometimes even smaller than compact cars. Compact cars use the economical front wheel drive transverse engine layout, well suited to the inline-4 engine, which also maximizes interior room. Several compact executive cars are rear-wheel drive with longitudinal engines, in order to accomodate the larger size of higher-performance engines (straight-6, V6, rarely V8), with four-wheel drive often being available. Compact executive cars also tend have more complicated independent suspensions, sportier transmissions, and high revolution engines that may require premium gasoline.

Compact executive cars usually offer the buyer less equipment, interior room or engine horsepower for the money, compared to mass market (non-luxury) cars. However, the material and building quality is higher, as is handling and performance, and the nameplate itself is part of the value proposition. Recently, the entry-level luxury segment has been very competitive, and there has been price-overlapping with well-equipped non-luxury cars.^[1][2]

This market segment is fairly new, pioneered by the BMW 3 Series,^{[citation needed]} which found consumer demand for a small but upscale saloon in the late 1970s, as well as Volvo.^{[citation needed]} The luxury car nameplate Mercedes-Benz then branched down to create the 1982 competitor Mercedes-Benz 190 (succeeded by the Mercedes-Benz C-Class). The class then grew with the arrivals of the Rover 600 and Audi A4, and in the 2000s with Japanese exports such as the Lexus IS and Infiniti G. Today, many compact executive cars particularly emphasize sporty handling.^[3][4]

Other vehicles such as the Lexus ES, Acura TL, and Buick Lacrosse are also considered entry-level luxury as well in the United States and Canada, being similar in price to the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. However, the ES and TL are not sold in Europe and do not fall under European luxury classifications. The ES and TL actually began as badge engineered versions of the midsize Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, respectively, retaining the front wheel drive transverse engine layout, whereas Toyota's Lexus IS does not share a platform with mass market Toyota cars. The TS and TL are not considered executive cars either, despite similar dimensions, since executive cars usually emphasize higher performance, often being rear-wheel drive with longitudinal engines.^[3][4]

See also

• Category:Compact executive cars for a list of cars categorized as such
• Luxury car
• Compact car
• Passenger Minivan
• Large family car
• Mid-size car

References