Executive car is a British term that refers to a cars size and is used to describe an automobile larger than a large family car. British English or UK English ( BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the A large family car is a European classification of cars which are larger than a Small family car and smaller than an Executive car In official use, the term is adopted by EuroNCAP, a European organization founded to test car safety. The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP is a European Car safety performance assessment programme founded in 1997 by the Transport Research

History

The term was coined in the 1960s to describe cars targeted at successful professionals and middle to senior managers, often as a company car but retaining enough performance and comfort to be desirable in their own right. The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 This page refers to a collection of vehicles (typically automobiles with a single owner Ford identified some of the higher-spec Cortina models as Executives, the 1600E Mk2 becoming something of a cult car in later years for its blend of performance and comparative luxury. Ford Motor Company is an American Multinational corporation and the world's fourth largest automaker based on Worldwide vehicle sales, following The Ford Cortina is a mid sized family car built by Ford of Britain in various guises from 1962 to 1982 A cult following is a group of fans devoted to a specific area of Pop culture. The Italian high luxury cars by Alfa Romeo. Alfa Romeo Automobiles SpA is an Italian Automaker founded in 1910 The definitive Ford executive car of the 1970s and 80s was the Granada. Larger Triumphs such as the 2000 and 2500 firmly fitted into this category, as did some of the larger Vauxhall models from the VX4/90 and Ventora through to the Carlton. Triumph 2000 Mark I "Barb" The "Mark I" was built between 1963 and 1969 a substantial facelift styled by Michelotti came in 1969 updating the car for Vauxhall Motors is a British automobile company It is a subsidiary of General Motors Corporation (GM and is part of GM Europe. The Vauxhall Carlton is an Executive car that was sold by Vauxhall in the United Kingdom from 1978 to 1994 The definitive British executive cars of the 1960s and 1970s though remain the Rover P6 range, superseded by the modern SD1, and the Jaguar XJ6. The Rover Company was a British Motor vehicle manufacturing company originating in Coventry in 1904 which moved to Solihull after World War II The Rover P6 series (named 2000, 2200, and 3500 for their engine displacement was a group of saloon Cars produced from 1963 to Rover SD1 is the code name given to a series of large Executive cars made by British Leyland and its successor Austin Rover from 1976 until 1986 The Jaguar XJ is a luxury sedan sold under the British Jaguar luxury marque At the bottom end of the market, executive cars could be luxury versions of family saloons; at the higher end they were often larger models by mainstream manufacturers or the entry-level models by companies specialising in larger luxury vehicles. The executive car was seen as aspirational, hence the emphasis on standing out from the crowd - but also a business tool enabling its users to exploit Britain's evolving motorway network. In consumer Marketing, an aspirational brand (or product) is one that a large segment of its Exposure audience wishes to own but for economical reasons Motorway is a term for both a type of Road and a classification or designation Early executive cars typically offered engines of between 2. 0 and 3. 5 litres in size, compared with 1. 6 to 2. 4 litres of a large family car; these days the average family saloon is more likely to be a two-litre car with executive cars generally starting at around 2. 5 litres, although in some markets such as Italy and France where tax structures make large engines prohibitively expensive to own and run there are many 2. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. 0-litre executive vehicles.

Overview

Body styles

In general, executive cars are 4-door saloons. The Volvo S80 is a high-end Executive car produced by the Swedish automaker Volvo and was introduced in 1998 as a replacement for the Rear-wheel Some manufacturers seek to differentiate their offerings by offering fitting them with spacious estate variants, or with 5-door liftback bodies - in particular Rover, Saab, and Renault have been known to prefer such body styles, with Ford also offering such models through the 1990s. A station wagon (or simply wagon) in American, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand usage and an estate car (or just estate A liftback is a Car body style in which the cargo space (boot is accessed through a Tailgate that extends up to the higher end of the C-pillar and includes ROVER, which stands for Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver is a system which allows ground forces such as Forward Air Controllers (FAC to see what an aircraft or Saab AB is an Aerospace and defense company based in Sweden. History "Svenska Aeroplan AB (aktiebolaget" ( Swedish for This is about the company for other uses see Renault (disambiguation. The Ford Scorpio was an Executive car produced by the Ford Motor Company at its factory in Cologne, Germany between 1985 and 1998 Until the 1990s, some models were also available as 2-door coupés, though such models are often also categorized as sports cars. A sports car is a term used to describe a class of Automobile. Some executive-car-based coupés are also marketed under different nameplates, so that the link is not obvious.

Market situation

While executive cars were quite popular in Europe in the beginning of the 1970s, with most major manufacturers and brands having an entry in this category, the fuel crises hampered their sales. An energy crisis is any great bottleneck (or price Rise) in the supply of energy resources to an economy. Some models did not achieve sales volume that would justify their development costs and have been cancelled without replacements. Gradually, the executive cars became more premium vehicles, with basic versions with less equipment and smaller engines disappearing from the market. Pricing is one of the Four p's of the Marketing mix. The other three aspects are product promotion and place. Another problem was steep depreciation, especially concerning cars with less favorable image. Depreciation is a term used in Accounting, Economics and Finance to spread the cost of an Asset over the span of several years

On the other hand, large family cars grew in size, being offered with larger engines (including V6 units, considered premium in Europe) and higher equipment levels, taking over the role of less premium executive cars due to still lower prices. A large family car is a European classification of cars which are larger than a Small family car and smaller than an Executive car A V6 engine is a V engine with six cylinders mounted on the Crankcase in two banks of three cylinders In particular, the executive cars from mainstream manufacturers, such as Opel Omega and Ford Scorpio fell victim to this trend, with the remaining models being positioned mostly as premium cars and coming from brands specializing in larger/more expensive vehicles. There was also an Oldsmobile Omega, an unrelated vehicle that was produced during the 1970s and 1980s The Opel Omega was an Executive car The Ford Scorpio was an Executive car produced by the Ford Motor Company at its factory in Cologne, Germany between 1985 and 1998

Notable exceptions are French manufacturers, Citroën, Peugeot and Renault, who continue to offer executive cars despite having a lineup of vehicles starting with economy city cars and not being considered premium brands. Citroën (pronounced See-Troh-Enn is a French Automobile manufacturer, founded in 1919 by André Citroën. For the article about the bicycle manufacturer see Cycles Peugeot. This is about the company for other uses see Renault (disambiguation. A city car (or urban car) is a small moderately powered Automobile intended for use in Urban areas It is comparable in size and features to a On the other hand, a growing number of Asian manufacturers started offering executive cars, though some of them backed off facing rather slow sales.

Other corresponding classes

The German equivalent is "upper-middle class (car)" (Obere Mittelklasse) within the classification maintained by Kraftfahrt Bundesamt. Another designation for the class is "E-Klasse" (E-Class) within the classification assigning a following letter of the Latin alphabet to every class of cars arranged in size, starting with the letter "A" for city cars. E-Class redirects here For Chrysler 's rebadged version of the Dodge 600 sold from 1983-1984 see Chrysler E-Class. A city car (or urban car) is a small moderately powered Automobile intended for use in Urban areas It is comparable in size and features to a Those designations are also often used in several other European countries, especially by automotive media with ties to German publications. German standards generally define such vehicles between 4. 8 and 5. 0 metres in length and have list prices of between EUR 25-60,000.

In France, these vehicles are known as "Grande routière," a class of comfortable long distance cars that first emerged on the French market in the 1930's. The Citroën DS is a prominent example. The Citroën DS (also known as Déesse, or Goddess, after the punning initials in French is an Executive car that was produced by

In the United States and Canada, these vehicles occupy the 1 million vehicle/year Mid-luxury segment. Luxury vehicle is a marketing term for a vehicle that provides luxury &mdash that which is beyond strict necessity &mdash in exchange for increased cost to the buyer German exports are competitive in this sector and use entry-level-luxury and mid-luxury as the base of their ranges, As has happened in the UK, the market does not reward economy brand cars that branch up into this segment. A brand is a collection of Images and ideas representing an economic producer more specifically it refers to the descriptive verbal attributes and concrete symbols such as a Brand perception of value is the key selling proposition, so American and Japanese manufacturers have established separate luxury brands like Cadillac, Infiniti, Lexus, and Acura to compete successfully in this segment. The Unique Selling Proposition (also Unique Selling Point) is a Marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern among successful advertising Cadillac is a Brand of Luxury vehicles owned by General Motors. Infiniti is the luxury car division of Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co is the Luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. Acura (アキュラ Akyura is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Honda Motor Company.

Rental car classification segments that generally correspond with it are P (Premium) and L (Luxury), though it has to be noted that these classifications are often applied quite liberally by rental companies.

The Australian term for cars this size is simply large car size.

Cars bigger than executive in Europe

A saloon car larger and/or more expensive than an executive car would be classified as a luxury car in Europe. Luxury vehicle is a marketing term for a vehicle that provides luxury &mdash that which is beyond strict necessity &mdash in exchange for increased cost to the buyer In Germany, those cars are referred to as Oberklasse ("upper class"), or "F-Klasse". Non-luxury full-size cars (like the Chrysler 300 and Honda Legend) have always been rare in Europe, so there is no term for that segment. A full-size car is a Marketing term used in North America for an Automobile larger than a Mid-size car. The Chrysler 300 is a Full-size car designed by Haitian-Canadian Ralph Gilles. With info translated from the entry for Honda Legend in the Japanese Wikipedia: The Honda Legend is a Full-size Luxury car made by the Japanese

Compact executive cars

Within the large family car class, premium cars such as Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Saab 9-3, and Volvo S60 are sometimes referred to as compact executive cars in the United Kingdom ^[1][2], reflecting their status,equipmment amount, materials used and relative size compared to mainstream large family cars and regular executive cars. A large family car is a European classification of cars which are larger than a Small family car and smaller than an Executive car The Audi A4 is a Compact executive car produced by the German automaker Audi since 1994 The BMW 3 Series is a Entry-level luxury car / Compact executive car manufactured by the German automaker BMW since May 1975 The Mercedes-Benz C-Class is a Compact executive car produced by the Mercedes Car Group division of Daimler AG. The Saab 9-3 is a Compact executive car produced by the automaker Saab in Trollhättan, Sweden The Volvo S60 is a compact executive sedan produced by the Swedish automaker Volvo since the year 2000 Compact executive car is a mainly British Car classification term applied to premium cars smaller than Executive cars. In North America, such models can be labelled entry-level luxury cars, compact or sometimes mid-size luxury cars, or alternatively near-luxury cars, though this classification depends more on price than on size. Compact executive car is a mainly British Car classification term applied to premium cars smaller than Executive cars. A compact (North America small family (European or c-segment car is a classification of cars which are larger than a supermini A mid-size car (occasionally referred to as an intermediate) is the North American and Australian term for an Automobile with a size between Luxury vehicle is a marketing term for a vehicle that provides luxury &mdash that which is beyond strict necessity &mdash in exchange for increased cost to the buyer

References

See also

• Large family car
• Luxury vehicle

External links

• A list of executive cars tested by EuroNCAP

A large family car is a European classification of cars which are larger than a Small family car and smaller than an Executive car Luxury vehicle is a marketing term for a vehicle that provides luxury &mdash that which is beyond strict necessity &mdash in exchange for increased cost to the buyer

---

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic