The names sometimes are simple. Yugo.
Sometimes they aren`t. Quadrifoglio.
Just like the U.S.- and Japanese-built cars, they offer such systems as antilock brakes, multivalve engines and airbags.
They`re the European imports.
They run the gamut from a shade above $4,000 to a shade below $200,000, though if it weren`t for the $4,199 Yugo the shades would be pulled at about $30,000.
The same fate that has befallen the Japanese producers-higher prices created by the rising value of their currency against the U.S. dollar-also has struck the Europeans. Prices have risen dramatically among most European makes for 1988. For example:
– The Alfa Romeo Spider Quadrifoglio has gone up by $1,440 to $22,440 from $21,000 in 1987.
– Audi brought out a new 80 model to replace the 4000 series. In doing so, the cheapest 80 at $18,600 is $2,725 more expensive than the least expensive 4000 a year ago. And the Audi 5000 coupe wasn`t immune either, going up by $1,720 this year to $20,460.
– BMW`s lowest-priced 325 will cost you $23,750-$2,275 more than last year.
– The least expensive Mercedes 190E is $1,760 higher than `87; it`s now at $29,190. And the 300E sedan has gone up by $2,650 to $43,700.
– Still got your eye on a Porsche 928S 4? You shouldn`t have waited a year: The `88 sticker is $66,710; that`s $4,740 higher than the `87.
– Volvo`s 760GLE broke the $4,000 barrier, too, going up by $4,040 to $31,200.
By comparison, the $209 increase on the Yugo GV seems tolerable, and the $300 decrease on the Volkswagen Jetta two-door a blessing.
But the sharp price increases won`t force the market to collapse, said independent Detroit analyst Arvid Jouppi. And neither will roller-coaster movement by the stock market.
”They haven`t been bashful about raising prices, but they`ve had to because of the weak U.S. dollar,” Jouppi said.
”There`ll always be an `If you have to ask the price you can`t afford to own one` market,” he said. ”There`s still strength in that market even though there may be too many competitors in the group. The high-priced European segment has been affected more by the fact there are too many of them than it has by the U.S. stock market and the affects of Black Monday.”
Jouppi said he agreed with the analyst who, when asked if an uncertain stock market would doom European car sales, responded: ”Few people buy a luxury car with stock certificates.”
He said the European manufacturers will survive higher prices, and buyers won`t be turned off by the stickers.
The European luxury car market historically has shown resilience to economic downturns and has been relatively immune to recessionary pressures, Jouppi said.
”You have to be affluent to consider one of those cars in the first place. There`s no car selling for over $30,000 called the `Poor Boy.` ”
Jouppi said European cars serve a useful purpose regardless of price.
”What you have are small-volume manufacturers who bring out technical innovations that are a great help to the high-volume producers,” he said.
”When those innovations work, when they catch on, then the mass producers can quickly follow. The small-volume European producer can meet the test for the high-volume U.S. producer.”
