In my last post, I looked at the way that people love hybrids. Now, just think of the way that people love to tell us the world as we know it is ending.
I love car magazines, especially the editorial section. A popular topic of late is the impact that the economy has had on the absorption rate of cars, both expensive exotics and small, economical compacts. Everyone has come to the same conclusion: we will never buy expensive cars again, and we will all be driving cheap eco-boxes. I don't buy it.
Now I wasn't alive in the seventies, but from the vintage magazines that I have read, everyone said that we would stop buying expensive cars during the oil crisis. Everyone has said the same thing throughout every economic collapse since the birth of the car. From the great depression to the recession after the computer bubble burst. We westerners seem so oblivious to the fact that we just need to look to the past for patterns of the future.
The clip below is from the British show, Top Gear. Jeremy Clarkson laments the state of the expensive car in his review of the Aston Martin V12 Vantatage.
The next month three cars, each costing over a million dollars were revealed. The Lamborghini Reventon (pronounced rebenton) Roadster, Bugatti 16c Galibier, and Pagani Zonda Cinque. Beyond that, just before his review, the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Aston Martin One-77 had just been revealed. Until a few years ago, the idea of a multi-million dollar car would have seemed ridiculous. Now, in the middle of a recession, five new million dollar cars have been revealed. That is not even to mention the tens of cars in the six figure range that have recently been revealed, including the Rolls Royce Ghost, Mclaren MP4-12C, Bentley Mulsanne, Ferrari 458 Italia to name a few.
It seems that capitalist countries, especially America, will never lose our love with expensive, ridiculous cars. We will continue to spend money on ridiculous cars and other objects we don't need. Simply calm down and wait for everything to get better. While you are waiting, buy something expensive... you'll feel better.
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I agree with you Sam, there will always be people with oodles and oodles of cash to buy Ferraris, Bugattis, and Astons. No matter what the general trend of the economy is, there will always be a market for 5 and 6 figure vehicles (albeit a small one). One such place that comes to mind is where my family and I went for spring break last year, Naples Florida. This was just as the 'recession' was starting, and I've never seen more bentleys, ferraris, and rolls royce's in my life. As my dad put it, "Apparently they didn't get the memo that there's a recession."
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