Luxury auto sales accelerate. (automobile dealers report higher percentage of sales gains from luxury cars)

Foreign luxury cars and sports cars were the hot-selling kings of the road in Western New York Past year.

In an area known for its lack of pretensions and loyalty to domestic brands, pricey Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-Benz - imports with sticker prices from the low $30,000s to $75,000 - had some of the biggest percentage sales gains of all cars sold in 1997, according to the Niagara Frontier Association of Automobile Dealers Inc.

The area picture that emerged from figures supplied by 135 dealerships representing 32 name plates reflects what occurred elsewhere in the country: Baby boomers flexed their economic muscle and consumers showed a beefed-up confidence in the state of the national economy.

"Baby boomers last year were moving to luxury vehicles from sport utility vehicles. They were moving to the next income level and going for higher-priced vehicles," said Elizabeth Spear, economic analyst for the McLean, Va.-based National Automobile …