Executive car
Executive car is a British term used generally to describe a passenger car larger than a large family car, but which is not a high-end or ultra luxury car, a minivan or an SUV. In official use, the term is adopted by EuroNCAP, a European organization founded to test car safety.
Overview
Body styles
In general, executive cars are 4-door saloons, though many are also available as spacious estates. Some manufacturers seek to differentiate their offerings by fitting them with a 4-door fastback, 5-door liftback or hatchback body - in particular Citroën and Renault have been known to prefer such body styles, with Rover also offering non-saloon executive models from the 1970s through 1990s. Until the 1990s, some models were also available as 2-door coupés, though such models are often also categorized as sports cars. 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. 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. Another problem was steep depreciation, especially concerning cars with less favorable image.
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. 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.
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. On the other hand, a growing number of Asian manufacturers started offering executive cars, though some of them backed off facing rather slow sales.[citation needed]
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. 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.
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. In the United States and Canada, the cars this size generally belong to the "mid-size car" category, although they are often priced comparatively less. The American "mid-size car" classification also encompasses some large family cars that would be considered "mid-size" in Europe. On the other hand, some European executive cars would be classified as near-luxury or mid-size luxury cars in North America, yet those definitions are applied more according to price than relative size.
Cars bigger than executive in Europe
A saloon car larger and/or pricier than an executive car would generally be classified as a luxury car in Europe, regardless of the American definition of the term. In Germany, those cars are referred to as Oberklasse ("upper class"), or "F-Klasse". Non-luxury full-size cars are extremely rare in Europe, so the term is quite uncommon.
Compact executive cars
Within the large family car class, premium cars such as BMW 3-series or Mercedes C-Class, are sometimes referred to as compact executive cars in the United Kingdom [1][2], reflecting their status and relative size compared to mainstream large family cars and regular 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 actually).
References
- ^ "Best compact executive - What Car?". What Car? Car of the Year 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-06.
- ^ "New Compact Executive". 4Car Best In Class. Retrieved 2006-08-06.