Small Luxury

There are quite a few cars these days coming out with premium quality and styling, and badge kudos, that are rather small.

The Audi A1 for example. A car that has only moderate performance but in terms of styling, looks like the more expensive A3. It's interior also looks like an A3s' and it has the same luxurious features as an A3 like for example leather. It is also an Audi. The Citroen DS3 is another similar example. Brand kudos comes from the fact that Citroen has dominated the WRC for the last 100 years (feels like it anyway). It too has moderate performance, a luxury interior, upmarket styling and yes, isn't that expensive.

I think that cars like this are a good thing. With petrol now costing £1,000,000 a centilitre, folks who used to own BMW 330's and Audi A4 2.0l's will have to downsize to save fuel, and money. But since they have lived in the lap of luxury for the last few years they're not going to want to settle for a Toyota Yaris (sorry Yaris owners, but a Yaris isn't a upmarket Beemer). A car that provides the luxury along with Yaris levels of economy and size would be more like it. What the DS3 and A1 do is provide a credible alternative to the mid sized salloons.

I think they're great.