Driving the good life.

• Author: Lindberg, Kelley J.P.
• Position: LuxuryAuto

2003 has been a challenging year for car manufacturers, with sales at their lowest level in five years, and down two percent from last year, according to Ward's Auto World. But don't try explaining that to luxury car sellers. Their sales in the first half of 2003 were up four percent.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

In good economies as well as bad, luxury car sales usually outpace the rest of the market, and the simple truth is that bad economies often affect lower-income workers more than the wealthy. And, those who still have money still like to spend it.

But in the last few years, luxury car makers realized they couldn't rely merely on their brand names to sell cars anymore. Brands that were historically associated with lower-priced, basic-functionality cars were adding more vehicles, more features, more gadgets and more safety to their product lines--and more money to their price tags. Luxury auto manufacturers scurried back to the drawing board to find ways to keep the other car makers from encroaching on their market share.

What did they come up with? Seek younger drivers. Take comfort to obscene levels. Focus on driving performance. And do it all without sacrificing an ounce of the hard-won reputation for quality that their brand names have become associated with.

Targeting Generation "Y"

As owner and producer of Cydney C. Productions, Cydney Neil has built an impressive reputation in the "haunting industry." Neil is best known for her Rocky Point Haunted House, where her shows aren't just amateur productions. They're full-scale theatrical productions with trained actors, as well as professional makeup artists, set designers, and costumers from Hollywood. But that's not all she does. She conducts seminars for people in the haunted house industry who come from all over the world. In addition, she runs the Rocky Point Center for Arts and Entertainment, a youth drama center.

Right now, she and her staff are preparing two enormous Halloween-themed attractions for Hong Kong's biggest theme park. They've hired her to help them compete with a Disney theme park set to debut in Hong Kong in 2005.

Today, she's taking a little time off to test-drive the new Mercedes-Benz SLK, an eye-catching two-seater that converts from a hard-topped coupe to a convertible roadster in 25 seconds.

Luxury auto makers agree that the way to a younger driver's heart is through cheaper, sportier cars. According to Mark Raleigh, a sales rep with Ken Garff Imports, "The trend...