Not yet but we are moving in that direction.
From Fortune, July 13:
The auto industry has struggled with supply-chain disruptions brought on by the pandemic and a shortage of new cars, but the luxury car market is thriving through it all.
Purchases of luxury vehicles accounted for 18% of total car sales in June, up from 17.3% a month before, according to new data released Tuesday from Kelley Blue Book, a Cox Automotive company. On average, buyers paid $66,476 for each new luxury vehicle—the highest price ever recorded.
According to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report Wednesday, which showed the highest inflation in 40 years, new-vehicle prices rose 0.7% in June compared to last month, while used-car prices rose 1.6% over the same period.
As luxury vehicles make up an increasingly larger share of sales, they have pulled the average transaction price for all new vehicles up to a record $48,043. That equates to more than 46 weeks of median earnings for the typical full-time worker and has increasingly left only wealthier Americans willing to pay out for a new car at the moment. By comparison, the Pew Research Center estimated in 2018 that one-fifth of Americans live in upper-income households, making more than double the national median. In other words, as the upper (and upper-middle) class grows, so does the percentage of luxury cars being sold.
“While affordability relative to the median household has never been worse, for the demographics that now dominate the new-vehicle market, affordability is not an issue,” Cox Automotive’s chief economist, Jonathan Smoke, told Fortune.
Electric vehicles, too, have inched into luxury price territory as high gas prices lead more drivers to consider making the switch to a more fuel-efficient option. The average price for a new electric vehicle exceeded $66,000 in June—a 3.8% increase from the month prior and 13.7% from a year ago, according to Kelley Blue Book estimates....
....MUCH MORE
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