Luxury vehicle car" features were found on luxury cars as early as 2009. Front mounted longitudinal engines with rear-wheel drive (FR) is a common layout of luxury cars. European marques like Mercedes-Benz , BMW , and Jaguar have almost never adopted front mounted engines with front-wheel drive (FF) and retained a lineup mostly or entirely made up of FR cars. Japanese brands such as Lexus and Infiniti also have predominantly FR lineups. The FR layout, while more expensive than the FF, has been retained by these luxury manufacturers as it allows for higher performance engines (particularly the straight-6, V8, and other engine
Luxury vehicle luxury car, a stylized, mass produced 2 door coupé, relying on standard components. These vehicles were popular from 1958 to 1980. Before World War II, France was a leading producer of powerful luxury automobiles. After World War II, the French government used "puissance fiscale" tax regulations to encourage manufacturers to build cars with small engines, and French motorists to buy them. The Maserati-powered Citroën SM and the Citroën C6 were arguably the last domestic French luxury cars. France is Europe's second-largest car manufacturer and its producers have benefited from the 2007 "bonus-malus écologique - ecological bonus-penalty" focusing on low CO2-emissions