Sport Sedan Challenge tests key cars for premium brands

Sport Sedan Challenge tests key cars for premium brands

ONTARIO, Calif. — Luxury automakers love sport sedans, such as the six in our latest face-off, the Cars.com/USA ODAY/MotorWeek $46,000 Sport Sedan Challenge. These cars yield big profits. As entry-premium sedans, they draw new buyers to the upscale brands. And the cars' size and drivetrains generally deliver better mileage than others in the lineup, helping makers meet fuel-economy rules. "They solve multiple problems for automakers," says auto consultant Rebecca Lindland at Rebel 3 Media. German automakers forged their standing in the U.S. with sport sedans such as the BMW 3 Series, Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-class. On that foundation, European premium makers have captured more than 6% of the U.S. market, a lot for brands with nothing much priced lower than $30,000. Story, photo gallery: And the winner is: Challenge car-by-car results with scores, key features, prices and what the judged liked -- and didn't -- and a photo gallery of the entries and the testing. Story: Meet the Challenge consumer judges and get their views after testing the cars -- they even surprised themselves. These cars are "terribly important, because they make these brands approachable. You might not walk into a BMW dealership if all it had were 5s and 7s," says Gary Stibel, CEO of New England Consulting Group, referring to BMW's bigger, higher-price models. "These cars are an opportunity to create a relationship, and if they manage it well, it's an opportunity for a lifetime relationship." The cars now mainly target a group born in the 1980s and 1990s called Millennials, and described in a Pew Research study as "confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change ... more ethnically and racially diverse than older adults." In Lindland's view, there is another key attribute: "They have grown up with a premium mindset," the children of a generation that made its way before the recent recession. They don't see owning a luxury-brand car as special — though perhaps starting with used models and only now are working into new ones.

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