Luxury Car Sales Still Strong

Written on 06/02/2009

I was speaking to a gentleman who sells Bentley and Rolls Royce cars this morning. He’s had a very busy month he tells me and sales of these super luxury cars is as strong as it ever was, if not stronger! When all we hear in the news is that sales of new cars is down 30%, factories are slowing down or closing, staff are being laid off and the government is bailing out the industry, this comes as something of a surprise.

Of course this begs the question…why? It seems there are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those with money to spare and those who don’t. Those people with money to spare are not really feeling the recession. If your income runs into six figure sums and your bank provides you with your own personal account manager then perhaps even a £100,000 drop in income from savings and a drop in business probably doesn’t seem too bad. It’s not like the house is about to be repossessed and the villa in Spain will have to go.

These are the super rich that can afford Bentleys and Rollers. The rest of us, the rabble, are tightening our belts. Even those on a comfortable income have stretched themselves with big mortgages to buy flash houses in the hope of emulating the super rich. Also the furnishings and big screen TV is on tick. And the flashy BMW is financed on borrowed cash. All this is OK when the income is secure but then the banks want their money back, the job is looking shaky and the news is full of doom and gloom.

Rather than replace the 3 year old BMW with a new BMW it seems prudent to hold on to it for another year or so. If the BMW has to go then it makes more sense to buy a quality second hand car rather than a new one.

And so it is that the “regular” car manufacturers are seeing a slump in new car sales. The second hand car market is very busy at the moment but now there is a shortage of good second hand motors. Yet for those whom cash is no problem, it’s spend spend spend as ever.

I wonder what that feels like? I wonder if I’ll ever find out?

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