US automakers may face challenges in luxury market
U.S. automakers are looking to recapture the luxury market, with Ford reviving the Lincoln Continental and General Motors expected to introduce its latest Cadillac model Tuesday.
However, the companies are going to face challenges in competing against German automakers, analyst Alec Gutierrez said Monday.
"When you look at the luxury space, it's all about prestige, it's all about reputation, and Mercedes and BMW at this point, and even Audi for that matter, have a huge head start over Cadillac and Lincoln, who have been floundering for a lot of years," Kelley Blue Book senior market analyst Alec Gutierrez said in an interview with "Closing Bell."
Ford unveiled a prototype of the future Continental sedan on Monday.
"It signals what we call 'quiet luxury,' which is about elegance, it's around effortless power, it's around a serene and relaxing interior, a place you could chill, so what we want for this vehicle is to be an extremely successful vehicle in that segment," Ford CEO Mark Fields said in an interview with "Squawk on the Street."
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Gutierrez said he thinks the new Lincoln Continental looks "fantastic" and believes it could shake the market up a bit. However, while the automaker is making big steps in the right direction, he said there is still a gap in terms of quality when compared to Mercedes and BMW.
He also doesn't think customers will be willing to pay the same price for a Cadillac as they would for other luxury brands, such as BMW.
Automotive expert Lauren Fix, known as "The Car Coach," said she wouldn't overlook the American car companies and thinks the Lincoln is about elegance.
"That space, as far as I'm concerned, has been sort of left to Lincoln and they've really done a beautiful job in this Continental," she told "Closing Bell."
However, Cadillac is aiming to compete in the performance space, which the Germans have a big hold on, Fix said.
"They may have the performance but they need to have that style, that class, that polish that's not really there with that chiseled look," Fix said, noting that the latest model has yet to be unveiled.
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—CNBC's Crystal Lau contributed to this report.