- Canada’s new luxury tax dings cars over $100,000, plus accessories
- Cadillac goes all-out with Celestiq electric flagship
- Our First Drive of the 2023 Ferrari Daytona SP3 Icona
- The best-selling luxury brands and cars so far this year
- Check out the Rolls-Royce Spectre testing in the French Riviera
- Driving the 2022 Audi R8 Spyder
Luxury vehicles play an important part in the overall automotive ecosystem, often debuting new features, designs, and technologies before they’re rolled out to more economical models.
Here are the biggest and most recent luxury-vehicle stories, debuts, and reviews from the past month.
Canada’s new luxury tax dings cars over $100,000, plus accessories
2023 Bentley Flying Spur S Photo by Bentley
Canada got an updated federal budget in July (congratulations?) and with it some new financial rules pertaining to the sales price of new vehicles and aircraft that cost more than $100,000, and boats over $250,000. In our world, the car world, such high-end vehicles will now be subject to a tax equal to either ten per cent of the total cost; or 20 per cent of the difference between its price and $100,000. Capeesh?
An example helps: If you buy a new Audi R8 for $180,000, the government’s maths say you’ll either owe $18,000, which is 10 per cent of the total price; or $16,000, which is 20 per cent of the difference between $180,000 and the $100,000 threshold. And since the feds are so generous, they’ll accept the lower amount of the two, whatever that works out to. Certain accessories and upgrades added to the car up to a year after purchase are also subject to the tax.
Cadillac goes all-out with Celestiq electric flagship
Cadillac appears to be taking the opportunity provided by electrification to attempt a vault from its status as a “discount luxury brand” into the upper echelons of some of its largely German competition. How else can you explain the $250,000-plus Cadillac Celestiq electric flagship?
The American automaker unveiled the ‘fastback sedan’ late July, saying it will be hand-built in limited quantities as part of an US$81-million investment at its Global Technical Center. Caddy’s take on luxury motoring includes plenty of interior screens, Ultra Cruise (the evolution of Super Cruise), and something called “Suspended Particle Device technology,” which allows for multiple zones of different lighting and opacity.
“The Celestiq show car is the purest expression of Cadillac,” said Magalie Debellis, manager, Cadillac Advanced Design. “It brings to life the most integrated expressions of design and innovation in the brand’s history, coalescing in a defining statement of a true Cadillac flagship.”
Our First Drive of the 2023 Ferrari Daytona SP3 Icona
2023 Ferrari Daytona SP3 ‘Icona’ Photo by Ferrari
The 2023 Daytona SP3 Icona commemorates the iconic redemption story of the 1967 Ferrari team that took the 24 Hours of Daytona by storm in a fitting way: with 828 horsepower and nary a hybrid system in sight. (If you’re not up to speed on the saga, we suggest first watching the 2019 movie Ford V Ferrari, and then reading this feature that gives even more detail into how Ferrari exacted its revenge on the Americans.)
David Booth took a first drive in the US$2.2-million Italian Icona on Germany’s Hockenheimring, describing its steering as “light, instantaneous, and oh-so precise,” and the V12’s get-up “like a 458 on anabolics,” even under the enforced 70-km/h limit. The interior experience is modern within the wraparound windshield and carbon-fibre tub, with Ferrari’s latest infotainment system and air conditioning. As for its ’70s-by-way-of-2020s appearance—good looks being the true value-capture quality in any Italian super—we’ll let the photo gallery do the talking.
The best-selling luxury brands and cars so far this year
2021 Audi SQ5 Sportback Photo by Brian Harper
What is luxury? While we may not be prepared to define what shade of granite countertop you should install in your new beach house, Driving’s report on the best-selling luxury brands and models in the first half of 2022 does give a pretty clear indication of what luxury car models and brands Canadians prefer.
The report looks at the sales figures from 16 high-end brands (excluding Tesla, which still hasn’t learned to share) dating from January to June 2022. Unsurprisingly, the German trio of Audi, Mercedes, and BMW tops the most-purchased brand list (in that order) followed by Lexus and Cadillac. Germany’s opulent exports also proved popular by model, with the Audi Q5 representing the most-purchased vehicle, followed by the Lexus RX and BMW X3. Read the full story above for more insights into the current Canadian luxury car market.
Check out the Rolls-Royce Spectre testing in the French Riviera
Rolls-Royce Spectre Photo by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Rolls-Royce is on a mission to accumulate 2.5 million kilometres of testing on its Spectre, recently taking to the French Riviera to see how it does in what is surely a popular destination for the brand’s customers. Testing is about 40 per cent complete, says Rolls, with many miles already under the tires in locales like the near-arctic region of Northern Sweden.
The coupe is promised to boast the lowest coefficient of drag (0.25) of any Rolls ever, and will house new suspension technology.
Driving the 2022 Audi R8 Spyder
2022 Audi R8 Photo by Graeme Fletcher
You can do a lot worse than the 2022 Audi R8 Spyder if you’re looking for a special way to dry your hair this summer. With Nappa-wrapped bucket seats and a simple one-screen layout for all infotainment inside, you’ll be comfortably set for the acceleration and engine howl that takes place when you pin the pedal down and kick the 5.2-litre V10 lurking behind the seats into action. The V10 makes 602 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque, passing it to whichever wheels have traction via a seven-speed twin-clutch transmission, and pushing the car to a 100-km/h sprint in 3.4 seconds. OK, so your hair might be a bit frizzy, but it will be dry.
The $246,900 test model Driving’s First Drive reviewer Graeme Fletcher took out proved to be a highlight not just for those in the car, but also for those at the local car haunts, who were excited to see Audi’s top performer in top-down action. See what all the fuss is about.
Keyword: Luxury Motoring Roundup: Canada’s new luxury-car tax, and Cadillac’s flagship Celestiq