According to this article (I’ll wait), American engineers and designers certainly don’t know.

“They’ve never lived luxury. They probably come from a modest family, and they don’t know how people who know and appreciate luxury think and act, or what they respond to. Thinking in terms of the luxury experience totally escapes people who consider luxury dining Red Lobster instead of Big Boy.”

Ouch.

Bob is mostly wrong. He’s right in the sense that to design an American luxury car not called “Tesla”, one must work for an American car company, which means one must live in Detroit, which means one must chose to live in Detroit…

But he’s wrong for implying such tastelessness precludes an ability to make proper luxury cars. Sure an Escalade is vulgar, chintzy and doesn’t even have headlamp washers, but it also has a kind of real luxury that the euro brands are increasingly unwilling to sell.

What is this “real luxury”?

How about these things:

Light

Space

Power

OK, let’s investigate this a little further, starting with light.

For starters, how on earth can an Escalade or F-150 Raptor be light? Well, I don’t mean lightness in terms of weight but lightness in terms of the, you know, the lighting of the interior. As nifty as panoramic mega-sunroofs are, they can’t compare with a good view of the real world, and that’s precisely what most real American luxury cars (i.e. trucks) give through low beltlines and insane ride heights.

Space? Well, this is a no brainer. Having more space inside means not having to think about packing. Who wants to do that?

Power? Well, ze Germans are pushing downsized and turbocharged mini V8s. These engines are usually such expensive options that most buyers now make due with some sort of three-point-oh tee vee six as a default. V6’s sound bad and the mini turbo’s mini lag is tantamount to having to ask permission to accelerate. Bummer.

Now what if you could buy a car with all those light, space, and power details ANNNNND euro snob details like headlight washers and non-shouty styling?

What if if were also incredibly, like Japanesibly, reliable?

It would be pretty nice, right?

But would anyone buy it?

http://expeditionportal.com/why-the-land-cruiser-is-the-worst-selling-suv-in-america/

Nope.