Memory snapshots from Detroit auto shows of my youth: Datsuns parked on candy-red carpet, begging my dad to buy a Renault Alliance (wisely, he bought another Oldsmobile), a Bitter SC, panhandlers in the stairways at Cobo Hall, steam pluming from the manhole covers in a dark, frigid city that the sun seemed to have forgotten. The cymbal crash accompanying the transformation of Detroit's little January dealer show into the North American International Auto Show in 1989 was the debut of the Lexus and Infiniti luxury divisions of Toyota and Nissan, then doing a good job of plowing Detroit under. Along with Acura, Honda's upscale division that launched in 1986, this trio of hot rookie brands intended to turn the lights off in Germany next. That was 25 years ago, in case you need another reason to feel old. And it didn't quite work out as planned, as the sales figures for calendar-year 2013 prove. The bestselling luxury brand in the U.S. last year was Mercedes-Benz, which finished just ahead of BMW by selling about 334,000 vehicles. Mighty Toyota's luxury division, which once rocked the Germans on their heels with that first sublime LS400, finished only third, with around 274,000 sales. Acura did almost the same business as Audi, or about 165,000 sales, while Infiniti sucked wind at 116,455, joining Lincoln and Volvo as the only luxury brands to actually drop in volume from 2012 despite a resurgent economy and rising car sales overall. READ MORE ››
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27
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