INSIDER TRADING

Luxury to me might not be luxury to you, but someone's got the make the call. It's BMW vs Mercedes in the battle of the luxo e-barges

- TOM FORD

The dictionary definition of luxury' says that it is "abundant provision of means of comfort, ease and pleasure”, or “a state of great comfort or elegance, especially when involving great expense”. Which all sounds very nice. Although there's a chunky grey area hidden between the pleasant words simply because “luxury' is always context based. Bluntly, what's luxurious to one person may not be to others. Ask any Series Land Rover owner what luxury is, and they'll probably say “a heater that works”. A Rolls-Royce owner will be looking for seats trimmed in vegan unicorn hide and their family crest engraved into the headlight glass.

Of course, electric drivetrains lend themselves utterly to what we might describe as “luxurious' when it comes to cars: smooth, silent, powerful. They are more reliable in absolute terms, deliver on the grails that luxury cars have sought since the invention of the chauffeur. We've also got the expense angle covered: the BMW iX50 we have here can easily crest £115,000 if you fiddle too intently with the configurator (although a basic iX40 is a smidge under £70k). The Mercedes-Benz EQS can come with added AMG for £154,995 (Mercedes-AMG EQS 53), although even the base' model is only a fiver under £100k, the snappily titled MercedesBenz EQS 450+ AMG Line. What that means is that working out which is the best 'luxury' car will inevitably end up having a subjective component. But I'll try and show my working.