but it is only about time until everyone realizes that FWD does not go hand in hand with luxury, and if you are, make it FWD based AWD.
Of course they are making an AWD ES, did I write something confusing? I said transverse-FWD based, and it's different from saying the ES is FWD-only.
And now is actually the time when premium brands realize that basing their mainstream sedan on a transverse-FWD platform, then adding AWD to accommodate more power, is a sound idea. Volvo does it and it plans to introduce a 600hp hybrid beast. Lincoln and Cadillac both did it even on their flagships.
In real world it is THE best selling premium sedan in its intended market, despite arguably being an oudated vehicle without much attractive qualities other than reliability (and for the hybrid model, MPG).As it sits right now, the ES is not that attractive of an option anymore to many buyers, and proof of this is in the real world.
A RWD ES is the best possible outcome assuming price is taken out of the picture (one which I will be glad to see, too). The RWD GS we have right now is already a better car than the ES. But vehicle sales is always a combined factor of desirability and affordability; the FWD ES reached a nice balance between the two and that's the secret sauce. You have to go all the way up to the $80k+ segment before buyers become insensitive enough to price and absolute desirability takes over. AWD allows the ES to tap into the $60k+ market and that's good enough.but my question to all of you is that wouldn't it be better as a car if it had the GS platform too?
In short, will a RWD ES be a better vehicle for a more prestigious segment? Yes. Will it print as much money as a FWD/AWD ES? No.
having more prestige features like RWD.
RWD is not a prestige feature. You can find it on $5,000 kei trucks and minivans. Actually, people will always buy AWD over RWD if the cost difference is not much. Only a small portion of people buy the 5-series/E-class for RWD (and are mostly M/AMG people, sucks for them because they will only get AWD in the future). Otherwise why do you think Audi is still relevant?