Luxury vehicle Lincoln (whereas it formerly competed with Mercury) and front-wheel drive Acura and Lexus models, while Cadillac is aimed at the "luxury" segment which generally encompasses the performance-oriented BMW and Mercedes-Benz marques. The premium compact segment is targeted at a niche market of consumers who found the existing entry-level luxury offerings (mostly consisting of compact executive cars - see below) to be too expensive. By offering a smaller, lighter, more fuel-efficient, and less expensive vehicle, premium compacts introduce younger buyers to the luxury marque, in hopes of retaining the coveted customer loyalty. This includes for example the Alfa Romeo Giulietta (940),
Luxury vehicle ES and LaCrosse emphasize "comfortable, reasonably priced luxury", while the TL has recently been targeted at the entry-level luxury sport market due to its SH-AWD. Recently, the entry-level luxury has been very competitive, and there has been price-overlapping with well-equipped non-luxury cars. The bestselling vehicles of the marque are frequently compact executive cars, such as the BMW 3 Series that makes up 40% of the vehicles that BMW sells worldwide. The mid-size luxury segment is commonly referred to as executive cars in Britain, "Obere Mittelklasse" in German, and "Grandes Routières" in French. Examples of models in this category include Acura