Imagine you’re the owner of one of the most luxury car brands; a multi-billion-dollar high-end automotive business. You specialise in the nicest, most expensive cars. As this person, you’d want all your sales funnels and marketing channels to be perfect, right? Particularly if you’re trying to appeal to some of the world’s wealthiest and most discerning clientele!

However, reality can sometimes deviate from ambition. While brands like Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Bentley are wildly successful, it’s surprising how much their website quality can vary dramatically. Some pages make you feel like you’re being thoroughly immersed into the brand, while others are wooden or lack usability. What’s not surprising to us here at KIJO though, is how impactful this can be on potential clients…

KIJO has reviewed 10 of the most iconic luxury car brands’ websites. We’ve probed the web pages of these highly successful companies, looking for what’s working and what isn’t in their automotive website design.

Our Luxury Automotive Website Design Evaluations

KIJO has evaluated ten luxury automotive website designs:

1. Aston Martin
2. Bentley
3. Ferrari
4. Lamborghini
5. Rolls-Royce
6. Bugatti
7. Porsche
8. Mercedes-Benz
9. Maserati
10. Audi

It’s important to note that, at KIJO, we appreciate the prestige of these luxury car brands. However, we wanted to give you a realistic picture of their website quality. By the end of our reviews, you should have a clear idea of what to expect from brands as iconic as these ones and, by extension, what makes an exceptional automotive website design.

What Makes A Great Luxury Automotive Website Design?

At KIJO, we started our review process with several objectives in mind. We wanted to: 

• Make our reviews a fair reflection of the user experience of luxury automaker websites.
• Provide easy-to-understand ratings, providing detail across several dimensions for measuring website quality.
• Write in plain English to make our findings easy to understand
• Help you understand how various automaker brands could improve
• Offer summary, encapsulating the key points from our research and review process
• Ensure that reviews are comparable between luxury automaker brands so you can see how they fare against each other. 

With this in mind, our reviews adhere to the following format:

Impact

Firstly, we evaluate the quality and impactfulness of the imagery, overlays, footer and menu arrangement, graphics, and video. 

We include this dimension because it’s critical for enmeshing customers in a brand and completing the experience. Luxury car brands must excite and intrigue their online customers while providing essential information about their vehicles.

Key Messaging

Next, our reviews evaluate messaging. We describe how luxury car brands communicate with audiences on their sites and how well they get their point across. 

Messaging is critical because it defines the brand and creates an atmosphere. It also provides vital details that could inform users’ purchasing decisions. This is why we included it.

UX

Next, we evaluated the websites’ user interfaces. UX refers to users’ overall experience when interacting with a website. It can include how easy it is to navigate, content quality, responsiveness and visual design. Factors contributing to a great site include fast load times, intuitive design, proper use of colour and typography, and accessibility for users with disabilities.

At KIJO, UX is vital because it offers user satisfaction and enhances customer access to site features. It also results in better business outcomes by increasing user enjoyment and revenue.

User Journeys

Our reviews also evaluated user journeys. We assessed how easily users can navigate various menus and get desired results. Ideally, a website should be straightforward and lead users to functional outcomes.

Designing a high-quality user journey is essential because it helps catch leads at the top of the funnel, drive them towards conversion and encourage advocacy after purchase. For luxury car brands, this process is critical.

Uniqueness/Memorability

Our KIJO reviews also attempted to evaluate a website’s uniqueness and memorability. 

Of course, this approach is always subjective. However, it’s helpful. Intangibles are valuable to brands, particularly to the websites of luxury car brands. 

Luxury Car Brands: Automotive Web Design Reviews

Rolls-Royce

Reviewed by KIJO’s Website Service Leader, Liam Terry

• Impact – 7/10
• Key Messaging – 5/10
• UX – 6/10
• User Journey – 6/10
• Memorability – 5/10
• Total – 29/50

“The Rolls-Royce homepage lacks impactful content, but the website’s hero banner makes up for it. The layout is basic but hosts some nice UX touches, and the focus is on directing users to the product pages. Although, the product builder could be more prominent as it’s easy to miss. Custom cursor and menu animations add unique touches to the experience too.”

Bentley

Reviewed by KIJO’s Website Service Leader, Liam Terry

• Impact – 5/10
• Key Messaging – 5/10
• UX – 4/10
• User Journey – 4/10
• Memorability – 3/10
• Total – 21/50

“The Bentley website attempts at impact through lifestyle photography fall short due to subpar image quality and design, with harsh overlays and a lacklustre user experience. While product messaging is present, brand-related messaging is lacking, and the user journeys are unclear and confusing. Despite some improvement in the product pages, the rest of the website feels uninspired. It’s lacking any unique elements and is further hindered by a dated and uncreative layout.”

Lamborghini

Reviewed by KIJO’s Website Service Leader, Liam Terry

• Impact – 9/10
• Key Messaging – 6/10
• UX – 8/10
• User Journey – 7/10
• Memorability – 9/10
• Total – 39/50

“The Lamborghini website boasts striking typography and contrasting sections. Its entrance video content is a great addition too. Enhancing home page interactivity would enhance its impact even more. Despite clear product messaging, the lack of brand-related messaging is a missed opportunity. Product pages offer engaging animations and interactive features and although navigation can be overwhelming, the home page provides clear signposts. The brand’s presence is evident throughout the website.”

Bugatti

Reviewed by KIJO’s Website Service Leader, Liam Terry

• Impact – 9/10
• Key Messaging – 5/10
• UX – 8/10
• User Journey – 7/10
• Memorability – 8/10
• Total – 37/50

“Bugatti’s website is really immersive. It’s very impactful with its full-screen video and the 3D scroll effect which operates seamlessly. There is really good key messaging on product pages. However, the homepage lacks any messaging with just a short statement in the hero banner. Its navigation is a little confusing though. If you don’t know to look for a burger menu, you may miss how to navigate the site any further.”

Ferrari

Reviewed by KIJO’s Website Service Leader, Liam Terry

• Impact – 9/10
• Key Messaging – 6/10
• UX – 9/10
• User Journey – 7/10
• Memorability – 9/10
• Total – 40/50

“Ferrari’s website delivers an engaging and memorable experience through its combination of impactful visuals, interactivity, slick layouts and well-designed product pages. However, there is limited messaging and unclear microcopy in the navigation and home page. The brand-inspired UI evokes a sense of speed and aerodynamics, making for a unique user experience.”

Aston Martin

Reviewed by KIJO’s Website Service Leader, Liam Terry

• Impact – 10/10
• Key Messaging – 8/10
• UX – 10/10
• User Journey – 10/10
• Memorability – 9/10
• Total – 47/50

“Experience the perfect blend of visual storytelling and interactive design with the Aston Martin website. It features a cinematic video on load, 3D rotating models, high-quality imagery, neat layouts, and an engaging product configurator with night mode, environments, and animations. You can navigate with ease through its clear taglines, call to actions, and intuitive sub-navigation. What’s most impressive is that it does this while being treated to unique individual touches such as a preloader and custom cursor.”

Porsche

Reviewed by KIJO’s Website Service Leader, Liam Terry

• Impact – 6/10
• Key Messaging – 6/10
• UX – 7/10
• User Journey – 8/10
• Memorability – 7/10
• Total – 34/50

“The Porsche website design arguably needs elevating with a more sophisticated layout and dynamic interactive elements such as more well placed videos and scrolling effects. That said, the homepage video is strong. The brand messaging is lacking on the home page whilst the product key messaging is strong. Navigation is made easy with clear headers, it hosts well-defined main and secondary navigation, and has intuitive sub-navigation on product pages. The call to actions could be more prominent though. Despite a lack of originality in design, the website stands out due to its unique navigation that showcases model thumbnails and features intuitive mega menus.”

Mercedes-Benz

Reviewed by KIJO’s Website Service Leader, Liam Terry

• Impact – 9/10
• Key Messaging – 9/10
• UX – 10/10
• User Journey – 9/10
• Memorability – 10/10
• Total – 47/50

“Experience a harmonious blend of powerful visual content and minimalist design, with the Mercedes Benz website. It boasts an abundance of white space and emotive brand messages. Navigate with ease through a well-structured layout and interact with the site through fluid animations, scrolling effects, and configurators. The sticky scrolling call to action and unique navigation make for a memorable user experience.”

Maserati

Reviewed by KIJO’s Website Service Leader, Liam Terry

• Impact – 10/10
• Key Messaging – 9/10
• UX – 10/10
• User Journey – 9/10
• Memorability – 10/10
• Total – 48/50

“The Maserati homepage leaves a lasting impression. It features powerful imagery, unique layouts, fluid animations and interactions, and strong typography. The homepage allows you to navigate with ease through a well-structured website, showcasing a balanced mix of brand and product messaging. It provides an immersive, highly engaging user experience. This is highlighted by dynamic features such as the hero banner carousel, models slider, scrolling effects, and intuitive news section. The product pages showcase product features with effective scroll effects. The clear calls to action and sub-navigation on product pages make navigation effortless too.”

Audi

Reviewed by KIJO’s Website Service Leader, Liam Terry

• Impact – 5/10
• Key Messaging – 4/10
• UX – 6/10
• User Journey – 8/10
• Memorability – 5/10
• Total – 28/50

“The Audi website’s focus on product photography is limited by its real estate on the homepage. It also lacks an impactful use of typography. The homepage messaging falls short, but the product pages effectively communicate their information. Despite the lack of interactivity, the website’s navigation is clear and allows for searching stock. However, the prominence of the calls to action and access to all models from the navigation can be improved. The overall design and layout of the website is basic, but the product page offers slightly more unique elements. There’s definite room for further enhancement though.”

Which Luxury Automaker Websites Performed Well, And Why?

Our purpose across these ten reviews was to compare and contrast ten premium luxury car brands’ online offerings concerning design, interface, content, and user experience. Based on the data, it was clear that certain websites were achieving these deliverables more than others, both overall and along specific dimensions. 

The Scores

Here’s a rundown of the scores we provided each luxury car brands’ website design in descending order: 

1. Maserati – 48/50
2. Aston Martin 47/50
3. Mercedes-Benz – 47/50
4. Ferrari – 40/50
5. Lamborghini – 39/50
6. Bugatti – 36/50
7. Porsche – 34/50
8. Rolls-Royce – 29/50
9. Audi – 28-50
10. Bentley – 21/50

Maserati, Aston Martin and Mercedes Benz scored nearly full marks across all the dimensions listed above. The reasons for this were simple. They include:

• Effective use of animation and interactions
• Strong typography that’s easy to read but doesn’t bombard website visitors
• High-quality dynamic features, such as banner carousels, model sliders, and scrolling effects
• Minimalist design
• Effective use of white space
• Sticky scrolling action
• Vehicle configurators that show changes in models visually
• Emotive brand messaging
• Powerful visual storytelling and interactive design
• High-quality imagery combined with slick layouts
• Intuitive sub-navigation. 

The automotive website design on these websites effectively combined conventional, tried-and-tested website-building techniques with innovative – and brave – concepts. They simultaneously maximised the user journey, improved visuals, and made their sites memorable and unique.

For us, Rolls-Royce, Audi, and Bentley were less successful with their automotive web design. These sites frequently displayed things that luxury car brands and their websites should avoid, including:

• Using a lack of impactful content
• Failing to flesh out product builders adequately
• Lacking sufficient video or imagery to entice customers
• Lack of brand-related messaging to engage users
• Making it challenging for visitors to find their way around pages
• Using subpar image quality and displaying pixelated pictures and icons
• Unclear user journey – website visitors can’t see a clear path to conversion or what will happen after they purchase
• Dated and uncreative layouts
• An untidy or lacklustre presentation that fails to do the products justice

Automotive Website Design Summary

Luxury car brands are in a highly competitive market where they must showcase their brand identity, product quality, and customer service. Therefore, a decent website should effectively communicate these aspects to potential buyers and existing customers. However, these brands could all benefit from improving their approach. 

The content and information of a luxury car brand’s website should provide relevant and engaging information about the brand’s history, vision, values, products, and services. The design and aesthetics of a luxury automotive website ought to reflect the brand’s personality and values and engage users. However, some of these brands don’t do this, as our reviews showed.

If you think KIJO could help with your luxury website design, please contact us today.