Luxury Car Sales Hit the Skids

Sales of luxury cars are dropping as fast as their downmarket counterparts, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sales of top-end vehicles plunged 30% last month, spelling major trouble for carmakers who had been relying on fat profit margins on luxury cars to offset falling demand for mass-markets vehicles. Analysts expect demand to keep falling as top execs continue to lose their jobs.

Beyond financial worries, customers don't want to appear extravagant just now by splurging on a new luxury car while others are struggling. Sales are just as weak in foreign markets. "Even the oligarchs in Russia don't feel rich anymore," said a board member of Bentley Motors. "There aren't many bright spots in the world right now." (More Lamborghini stories.)