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The Alfa Romeo 159 is a compact executive car

Compact executive car is a mainly British car classification term applied to premium cars smaller than executive cars. In American English, they are usually referred to as Entry-level luxury car.

Dimensionally, these vehicles are often shorter than large family cars, and the rear leg room and boot/trunk size is smaller to accommodate larger engines. While they offer the buyer less equipment, inner room or engine for the money, the material and building quality is higher and the nameplate itself is part of the value proposition. Compact executive cars are usually available in saloon, estate, coupé and cabriolet body styles.

This market segment is fairly new, pioneered by the BMW 3 Series, which found consumer demand for a small but upscale saloon in the late 1970s, as well as Volvo. The luxury car nameplate Mercedes-Benz then branched down to create the 1982 competitor Mercedes-Benz 190. The class then grew with the arrivals of the Rover 600 and Audi A4.

[edit] See also

• Category:Compact executive cars for a list of cars categorized as such
• Luxury car
• Compact car
• Executive car
• Large family car
• Mid-size car