Executive car
The term has also been adopted by Euro NCAP, a European organization founded to test car safety.
[2] The term was coined in the 1960s to describe cars targeted at successful professionals and middle-to-senior managers.
[3] It was used by businesses as an incentive for employees in senior roles and to exploit Britain and Europe's tax schemes as a company owned vehicle.
[citation needed] Prior to the 1990s, executive cars were typically sedans, however in recent years they have also been produced in other body styles, such as estates (station wagons), convertibles, coupés, and five-door hatch versions.
[4] They typically need to be "comfortable, refined and display some form of driving pleasure" on occasion.
[5] In general, executive cars are 4-door saloons, though may include estate, 5-door hatchback or 2-door coupé variants.
Rover, Saab, Renault and Citroën formerly have been known to prefer hatchbacks, with Ford also offering alternatives through the 1990s.
Audi, BMW and later Mercedes-AMG have recently offered hatchbacks as separate models for their executive cars since 2010s.
Following the end of the 607's production run in 2010, Peugeot no longer produces any executive cars.
Following World War II, Mercedes Benz's first all-new models were the Mercedes-Benz W120 executive cars.
The Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class four-door fastback was added to the company's model range in 2004, with a shooting brake body style also produced from 2012-2017.
Over the seven generations of the 5 Series, it has been produced in sedan, wagon, and four-door hatchback body styles.
In 1991, the Crown-derived Aristo began production, and from 1993 until 2020 were marketed under Toyota's luxury sub-brand as the Lexus GS.
It is believed that the standard of Korean Executive Cars came from the 3rd generation Hyundai Grandeur model launched in 1998.
Afterward, the launch of Kia Opirus and Daewoo Magnus formed the semi-large car market.
In the Korean market, semi-large cars boast significant sales volume as a symbol of the middle class, and the Hyundai Grandeur ranks high in sales in the Korean automobile market.
Currently, the semi-large business sedan models sold in the Korean market include Hyundai Grandeur and Kia K8, and the luxury brand is the Genesis G80.
Many years later, in 2009, SEAT launched the Exeo, which is basically a rebadged Audi A4 on the B7 platform, with some minor modifications to the front and rear fascias.
In 2010 the second generation of the 9-5 switched to a platform shared with various General Motors models until Saab went bankrupt in 2012.
Daimler Company produced luxury cars in various sizes starting in the late 1890s.
[17] The Hawk was available with features such as two-tone and metallic paintwork, leather upholstery, wood trim, and a sunroof.
Production of the Hawk, along with the similarly sized Humber Super Snipe and Imperial,[18] ceased when the brand was dissolved in 1967.
[19] The SD1 was replaced by the 1986 Rover 800 series, which was a jointly developed with the Honda Legend and had a front-wheel drive layout.
The 1972 Ford Granada was initially built in the United Kingdom before switching to being imported from Germany in 1976.
The first executive car produced by a Vietnamese company is the VinFast LUX A2.0, which debuted at the 2018 Paris Motor Show.
