Luxury Automakers Offer High-end Holiday Treats

Think of the pricey luxury cars. You think they are hard to own because they are expensive? Not anymore - because luxury brands are offering high-end holiday treats for their customers.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is offering a limited-edition Phantom. This offer though is exclusively at its Beverly Hills dealership. Six Phantoms were created to serve said purpose. These vehicles feature mother of pearl inlays, chrome 21-inch wheels, commemorative plaques and lounge seat DVD system - all for $370,000 each.

On the one hand, Mercedes Benz also produced Signature Edition CL600 luxury coupe. It is offered exclusively through Saks Fifth Avenue's holiday catalog. They are priced at $160,000 each. Mercedes made 20 CL600s and all of them were sold in less than 8 minutes on Nov. 14. Also, just last Friday, 3 of the 6 special-edition Phantoms remained at dealerships.

Luxury auto brands are hoping that executives would spend their year-end bonuses on new cars for themselves as well as for their dear ones. It is also apparent that automakers have given their incentive offers full blast and kicked their TV ads. This move is made with high hopes of making potential customers to press their purchase button. "We are in a unique position with the stock market being so strong this year," said Chris Marchand, western regional manager for Rolls-Royce. "We think it's a great opportunity with the Beverly Hills edition and with Rolls-Royce in general, to get people in the dealerships and in a Rolls-Royce. We want to be the luxury vehicle of choice for the people who have the disposable income to spend on something like this."

One of the purchasers of Phantoms is Hal Taines, an oil and gas exploration executive. He bought the vehicles as a holiday gift got his wife. "The hook was when I got in to drive the car," Taines said. "I couldn't believe. It drove like any car I've ever owned except it has the Rolls-Royce luxury and ride. It was just like riding on glass or on ice. And it does everything but brush your teeth. I wrote a check."

Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association said, "Certainly, the purchase of cars as gifts had been a growing phenomenon in recent years." Recent studies have also found out the direct correlation between the sales of luxury vehicles and the performance of stock market. Taylor added said correlation made this year's holiday season a strong one. Dodge luxury vehicles and new Dodge auto parts are also showing increase in demand along with the Jaguars.