Yes, BMW’s cars are typically more expensive than Kia’s offerings, but the best-selling Kia Sportage isn’t exactly cheap, starting at over £30,000. Base models feel pretty smart inside, while top-spec examples are even classed as ‘luxury’ cars by the government when it comes to calculating road tax.
Then there’s Skoda, which was once viewed as the poor relation of the Volkswagen Group. Nowadays, though, many of its models feel just as ‘premium’ inside, if not more so, than their VW and Audi counterparts, despite the less-appealing brand name.
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In fact, we’d go as far as saying the Skoda Elroq – Auto Express’ Car of the Year and available on the Motability scheme – is more of a top tier product than Alfa Romeo’s small SUV, the Junior, which, unlike the Czech model, has been removed from Motability’s listings for being too posh.
Then you have brands such as Polestar and Volvo, which for years at Auto Express we’ve placed directly in line with the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes. It’s not just us that holds this view, though; Polestar and Volvo designs and prices models to compete directly with Germany’s finest.
So with Reeves specifically condemning the leasing of Mercs through Motability in her Budget speech, why not the brand’s Swedish rivals? Is it because Volvo produces an entry-level model in the EX30? That might seem like a fair argument, until you realise that all of the brands currently excluded for being too high-end also provide similar entry points to their range, be it a hatchback or a compact SUV.
Regardless, entry-level models such as these, alongside the popularity of finance, leasing and, of course, social media, means buying a premium car has seeped its way into the mainstream.
With this in mind and the lines almost entirely blurred, is a BMW 1 Series in any sense more premium than a highly-specced Peugeot or Volkswagen? Ultimately, that judgement is yours to make, but all we can do is recommend that you compare like-for-like with the more mainstream offerings as, like the own-brand stuff you find in the supermarket, the difference might not be as drastic as you might expect.
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