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The low-volume, high-profit luxury car has proved to be an ideal vehicle for market testing Detroit's expensive new accessories and styling ideas. Hydra-Matic, the first successful automatic transmission, started out on the Cadillac; so did the first auto tail fins, which spread through the industry before receding. Cadillac's turning lights, which provide side illumination during a turn, have been adopted by other G.M. divisions, will appear on the 1966 models of some competitors. The Lincoln Continental's handsome slab sides, introduced on the 1961 model, set a styling trend that still dominates Detroit; next fall Ford will bring out a Continental restyled for the first time in five years, will also reintroduce the two-door model dropped in 1960. As the expensive features have spread down into the market, they have created a whole new genre of car: Pontiac's Grand Prix, Chevrolet's Caprice, Ford's LTD.
Privileged Many. Who are the privileged many who buy luxury cars? The average Continental owner, Ford's Lincoln-Mercury division discovered in a recent survey, is 54 years old, earns $25,000 a year, and has completed more than two years of college. Nearly two-thirds of Continental owners are managers, proprietors or professional men. Even more impressive: although Continentals can cost as much as $8,500, 81% of the customers pay for them in cash.