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Ranked: Favorite Car Brands of the Ultra-Rich


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Somewhat related, kinda sorta...

Report: Lexus Isn’t Cool With Younger Car Buyers

 

It makes sense, I see F-Series Expy Mustangs and Explorers in wealthy neighborhoods. Even on my own street, only one person has a mortgage and yes they have a Tesla and an extremely high mortgage with a minimal down payment (I checked the records) surprised they paid what they paid.  

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50 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

Interesting info presented in a horrible chart.  They don't explain what the white box/percentage meant vs. the gold unless you look at the data on the next page.

 

Regarding the data, it does make sense, as pointed out with Expy, Explorer, and of course, F-series models, not to mention things like Raptor, etc.

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To be fair, I'm not terribly surprised. I have quite a few family members worth 7, or even 8 figures, my mother's cousin owns on of the largest meat distribution companies in the country. He drives a Ford truck. 

 

My uncle who was an dentist and is worth around 5 million drove the same 90s suburban for over 20 years and 500k miles before the transmission blew up while towing a boat. He just gave it to the towing company in exchange for towing it away. 

 

A lot of wealthy people drive "normal" brands for a variety of reasons. Ford vehicles are extremely reliable, they last and last. For people who want to devote as much money and mental resources as possible to their business, they don't want to be worrying about if their BMW 5 series is gonna start today. A Ford just works, it's peace of mind, something that's hugely important to a lot of wealthier individuals. 

 

Then there's the fact that Ford is just cool. There isn't any other brand where you can see a mid-engine supercar next to a 20k hybrid truck next to a muscle car, next to a transit, next to a Ford bronco/raptor. The diversity and range of Ford's lineup is hands down their biggest strength. It's why the biggest mistake Ford could make as a brand would be to become just a truck and transit brand in the future. Thankfully, they don't seem to be going that route. 

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9 hours ago, ANTAUS said:

I think I read a few articles that Warren Buffet, still drives his Town Car, and we all know how long ago that left the market...


Is it the Mongolian Buffet in Warren Michigan, or a different buffet?

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/19XmDLd3J9/?mibextid=wwXIfr

 

(A buffet is a style of restaurant, or a piece of furniture.  A Buffett is a Warren or a Jimmy)

 

;)

Edited by sullynd
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I would have thought that Chevrolet fares better among the ultra-wealthy, as it sells the Corvette and Suburban/Tahoe. Although I see more top-trim-level F-150s than comparable Silverados. 

 

The high-end editions of the F-Series and Expedition are popular with business owners who want to drive something nice, but don't want to drive up in a high-end brand that could alienate paying clients.

 

Honda isn't on the list, which isn't surprising, as around here it is very much a middle class/upper middle class brand. It's not driven by the credit-challenged, but also not driven much by the rich. At times the parking lot during school events looks like a Honda dealership with all of the Civics, CR-Vs, Odysseys and Pilots. But those people are neither rich nor low-income. I'm guessing Toyota makes it because of the Prius, Sequoia and Land Cruiser. 

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47 minutes ago, grbeck said:

I would have thought that Chevrolet fares better among the ultra-wealthy, as it sells the Corvette and Suburban/Tahoe. Although I see more top-trim-level F-150s than comparable Silverados. 

 


Ultra wealthy don’t buy Corvettes and they probably buy GMCs over Chevys.

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On 4/16/2025 at 11:37 AM, Sherminator98 said:

 

They defined ultra wealth as having more than $500K household income. That's basically every moderately successful self employed business person. So I'm sure the data is skewed by lots of F-150 and Transit purchases in the name of Schedule C or LLC small business owners. Also, Ford dominates the luxury end of fullsize pickup truck so that also has something to do with it too. 

Edited by bzcat
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On 4/17/2025 at 5:29 AM, rmc523 said:

 

Interesting info presented in a horrible chart.  They don't explain what the white box/percentage meant vs. the gold unless you look at the data on the next page.

 

Regarding the data, it does make sense, as pointed out with Expy, Explorer, and of course, F-series models, not to mention things like Raptor, etc.

I think they did the chart that way to make it look ambiguous, mostly because I doubt they actually 

understand the data themselves or want to present it a certain way -does that kinda make sense?

 

Edited by jpd80
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My parents have owned nothing but Lexus since my Dad replaced his ‘95 Benz (which replaced his ‘92 SC300 - My favorite car he owned).  My dad’s car is his retirement car - an SC430 he’ll never replace. They replace my mom’s GX every 2-3 years. The new GX is light years improved.  That said, Lexus is simply the new Buick. 

Edited by sullynd
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13 hours ago, bzcat said:

 

They defined ultra wealth as having more than $500K household income. That's basically every moderately successful self employed business person. 

 

I would say that's much more than moderately successful.  $500k/year is a very large sum of money, and something even most very successful self-employed business owners don't touch.

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13 hours ago, jpd80 said:

I think they did the chart that way to make it look ambiguous, mostly because I doubt they actually 

understand the data themselves or want to present it a certain way -does that kinda make sense?

 

 

Yeah it does....they probably wanted the data to come out a certain way, so they presented it as it did.

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