TrueCar.com: Most Luxury Brands Enjoy Better Sales Even While Cutting Incentives

TrueCar.com discovered that the majority of 13 luxury brands are gaining sales traction so far this year while at the same time decreasing their incentive spending as compared with 2009.

Which nameplate is leading this charge in an overall weak economy? TrueCar.com says it’s Cadillac.

Site analysts calculated Cadillac has had a surge in 2010 sales to the tune of 43.8 percent. Simultaneously, the brand lowered its average incentive spending by 13.8 percent.

Cadillac is one of 10 brands to be enjoying these trends. The rest include Infiniti, Audi, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Jaguar, Lexus, BMW and Lincoln.

Acura was second only to Cadillac in TrueCar.com’s data showing growing sales so far this year. Acura has posted a 25.8 percent gain. However, the site found the brand had to increase its average incentive amount by 12.9 percent to $2,614.

The only other two brands in the same situation as Acura in terms of incentive spending are Volvo and Saab. Volvo’s incentives have jumped 15.6 percent, while Saab’s have moved 35.6 percent higher.

Unfortunately for those brands, the spending isn’t turning the tide toward positive sales performance. Volvo and Saab were the only two luxury nameplates mentioned by TrueCar.com as having lower sales figures so far this year as compared to 2009.

For Volvo, the site said sales are off by 12 percent. For Saab, sale figures are down by more than half — 53.3 percent to be exact. However, Saab recently became an independent company, so that had potential to impact results.

Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends and insight at TrueCar.com, attempted to bring more clarity to what these figures mean.

“Luxury cars have shown the most stability among the segments this year,” Toprak noted.

Toprak emphasized how important the rest of 2010 is for one particular luxury brand.

“These next three months, including the luxury holiday sales campaign, are crucial for Lexus if they want to continue to lead the market as they have for over a decade,” he explained.

Below is a chart comparing luxury brands and their incentive spending through September versus the same nine months last year: