Doesn't many luxury cars have innovations way before normal cars do, simply because these innovations have yet to come down in price? I think there will always be some features you can get on an Audi that you can't get on a Volkswagen.
And there's even holy flamewars between BMW, Audi and Mercedes supporters on car forums :)
Good examples: magnetorheological damper shock absorbers (filled with magnetic fluid, can be tuned to different road conditions - available as a build option on Audis, but only as aftermarket parts for most other brands), heads-up displays (for navigation or low-light vision), run-flat tires (actually used to be more popular, but now mostly used by BMW).
Often these innovations didn't necessarily originate at the car company in question - they were developed by a third party then sold or licensed to the car manufacturer. Gorilla glass might be a good analogue in the tablet world - it's made by Corning, but is famous due to its use by Apple.
And there's even holy flamewars between BMW, Audi and Mercedes supporters on car forums :)