No car is more luxurious than the one very few can buy

Posted by Anchor_Aways@reddit | cars | View on Reddit | 113 comments

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HeavyDutyForks@reddit

Rolls-Royce’s new $3.5 million car? You can’t have it. That’s the appeal.

There's no car on this planet that is worth $3.5m to me. It has 0 appeal for me at all

IDC how much money I ever have, I will never understand spending this kind of money on a damn car

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Thhey're worth far more than that. One sold for auction last year for £10m I think. Same car went for £5m in 2020. And that was a 760, OG Zondas (base, S, F etc) are actually theorised to be worth even more because there's so few of them left.

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ScienceMechEng_Lover@reddit

A Bugatti is worth more than $3.5 million for the level of engineering that goes into it.

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strongmanass@reddit

Bugatti's (and other hypercar markers) messaging is that the bulk of their cost is engineering. Rolls Royce's messaging is that the bulk of their cost is design and craftsmanship. People are willing to pay for both, so who is anyone to say that engineering is worth more than design and craftsmanship?

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ScienceMechEng_Lover@reddit

Engineering > Fancy cows and trees.

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strongmanass@reddit

Disagree on both points. The Veyron interior is indeed timeless, but that doesn't make it better than Rolls Royce, just a different design approach.

The RR needs some context. A 2005 Phantom was in a curious place. It was the first Rolls Royce under BMW and they had to preserve RR tradition because people had criticized the purchase even before the car came out. So it was a deliberate conservative approach. In any case, this doesn't look like this.

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improbablydrunknlw@reddit

What makes engineering worth more than design and craftsmanship?

Personal values I suppose.

"Do I want a spaceship or abject perfection"?

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strongmanass@reddit

It's completely fair for personal values to be the reason as long as you acknowledge it's just personal (not accusing you specifically).

But stating as fact that one kind of 7 figure car justifies the price more than another when both are - depending on your level of cynicism - perfection in different areas, or just symbols of gross excess is myopic and silly. It places the commenter as the arbiter of value for $3 million+ cars.

It's the same dichotomy every time. Commenters salivate and endlessly praise auto makers in the hypercar threads (with a secondary skirmish of 'what's the point?'). And in the luxury car threads of the same price commenters talk about stupid rich people, idiotic spending, taxes, and the evils of society. The same people are buying both kinds of cars.

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Hell_Maybe@reddit

You simply don’t understand, it’s a very cool car*. Need I say more?

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real_fake_hoors@reddit

Because this is a car for billionaires. To that economic level, 3.5 mil is a rounding error.

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HeavyDutyForks@reddit

I stand by what I said. If I was a billionaire looking to blow $3.5m on something stupid, I'd be looking at a helicopter, yacht, or vacation home in some exotic location

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RiftHunter4@reddit

You're on a car subreddit saying that you wouldn't spend big money on a car. What reaction did you expect?

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HeavyDutyForks@reddit

Half the people on this sub don't even like cars lol

And this isn't "big money" its stupid money. 99% of the people on this sub couldn't afford this thing even if they sunk every penny they had and everything they owned into it

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aponderingpanda@reddit

People can appreciate things even if they can't afford them.

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ASource3511@reddit

A yacht would probably depreciate much quicker than a limited production car. Not to mention the maintenance cost of owning a yacht.

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reversehelmet@reddit

If you were an actual billionaire you wouldn't be choosing between the four you listed. You'd buy all of them

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monkeysuit05@reddit

There not picking one over the other it’s just all of it

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real_fake_hoors@reddit

Exactly. I don’t think OP gets this. It’s like that article that detailed how the average Bugatti owner has something like 60 cars.

They have everything. People don’t seem to get this. They are not stretching a budget to afford a 3.5 million dollar car. It’s paid in full and they may even get more than one for different locations and countries where they operate or live.

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neodymiumex@reddit

The average Bugatti buyer owns 84 cars, 3 planes, and a yacht. I’m sure the numbers for Rolls Royce are slightly less but for this level of car the buyers pretty much already own anything that they want. Something like this is just a tasty treat on top of everything else.

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bigev007@reddit

The average Bugatti owner has like 90 cars. This is probably similar

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MembershipNo2077@reddit

No, youd have the car because you'd tell your servant to get a car to drive you around in when do you need to be driven. The servant would then acquire something easy for you to afford and luxurious. You'd ask how much off handedly later, he'd say $3.5m, you'd shrug and make it back by the time the ride was done.

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dfields3710@reddit

They already have those as well and now they also have a 3.5 million dollar house

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ugfish@reddit

Exactly, this price of this car will never come up between RR and the buyer outside the invoice that will be sent to the billionaires family office.

Someone who already has a relationship with RR will get a call and a concierge will ask how they want it outfitted. The car will then show up at some warehouse to be garaged for the rest of its life and maybe be driven in London or Dubai for a few hundred miles each decade.

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MajesticBread9147@reddit

I would say this is true for a Bugatti, but not a Rolls Royce.

The purpose of a Rolls is to be driven around in and extreme luxury. I would assume this would be the "default" mode of transport for billionaires while they own the car when they need to carry out business on the way to meetings and whatnot.

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strongmanass@reddit

This is a (huge) roadster. It's for cruising somewhere you want to be seen. Nobody is doing work in this car.

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420bIaze@reddit

Yeah, people of relatively modest wealth can buy supercars, garage them, and often not lose too much to depreciation, or even make a small profit. Hence why they do it.

Rolls Royce like all luxury cars have horrendous depreciation. A 2010 Ghost cost about $600k AUD when new - which is probably closer to $3 million when you account for inflation and opportunity cost. Today you can buy one for about $200k.

So there's no point owning any luxury car if you're not going to drive it.

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Odd-Staff6245@reddit

No a tax deduction because it is a company car and the cost of the car and gas and maintenance are all paid by the tax payer

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gimpwiz@reddit

Not how it works

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Odd-Staff6245@reddit

I would hope that the IRS would have some limitations on the amount a company could expense for a company vehicle used by it's CEO, but I'm sure that there is a way around it. The gas used and maintenance is certain charged as an expense. Any accountants out there who could give a brief how to?

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GrynaiTaip@reddit

You don't have to pay VAT if it's a company car (in some countries), but you still have to pay millions for the car. You don't get any extra deductions.

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khanak@reddit

It’s all relative. There are probably people that say the same thing about a $150k base S class.

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WanganTunedKeiCar@reddit

I say the same thing about a $15000 Mazda

Glorious Skoda Favorit is all a driver needs

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alfredadamski@reddit

Oh Lord, won't you buy me, a Skoda Estelle,
My friends all drive Porsche's, I must give them hell,
I can't ride my bike, 'cos it ain't got no bell.
So Lord, won't you buy me, a Skoda Estelle?

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feelybeurre@reddit

s/ ?

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WanganTunedKeiCar@reddit

>:)

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beforesunsetearth@reddit

See: Pagani Huayra Roadster.

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RedditPoster05@reddit

I wonder if it’s even “worth” that much . Like does it have a similar mark up to a lower end luxury car? What’s a manufacturer make off a Mercedes ?

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SecretBG@reddit

It’s because it will be an investment. That $3.5 million you initially spent can be worth $20 million in two decades because the car will be so rare. But yeah, overall I agree, it’s kind of dumb.

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Dirty_Pee_Pants@reddit

It's also incredibly stupid. There is zero configuration of metal, plastic, leather, wires, and software that warrants that asking price. It's absurd for absurdity's sake. I guess that's what the people in the market for a rolls are going after though... I guess

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dayvieee@reddit

These buyers don’t care about what’s in it, only about how much it cost to gloat

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cpxchewy@reddit

Nah. These buyers don't care about how much it cost. They care about being able to have the privilege to buy something others can't.

This is why ferrari exists, or even on a cheaper level, the sucking up to a Rolex AD to be able to buy a stainless steel mass produced watch. The ability to be given the opportunity to buy something is the experience that matters.

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Dirty_Pee_Pants@reddit

That's a bingo bingo

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Witherino@reddit

It's absurd for absurdity's sake.

What do you think a supercar is!?

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Dirty_Pee_Pants@reddit

Not a rolls

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Witherino@reddit

Complaining about the unnecessary absurdity of a car in r/cars is tone deaf, and drawing the line at a $3.5m Rolls (especially when they've made $30m cars) seems arbitrary. Why do you approve of $400k cars with absurd amounts of horsepower? What about $3m Utopias?

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Dirty_Pee_Pants@reddit

In what world is the functional equivalent to Toyota Camry an amazing vehicle? Sure, it's nice, yes it has power, but for what purpose? What is it doing? Who is it for? What does it do?

I know my answers to these questions, do you?

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Witherino@reddit

In what world is the functional equivalent to Toyota Camry an amazing vehicle?

To be clear, you're talking about the RR in the original post, yes? What is your judging criteria? If the ONLY thing you care about is getting safely from point A to point B, then you should genuinely believe that any car over $35k or ~225 horsepower is utterly unnecessary and should not exist. Do you believe that?

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Dirty_Pee_Pants@reddit

The article in which the headline is that it's unattainable? Yes that one. Who cares? What does it matter. It will never be used for anything.

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Witherino@reddit

how is your opinion formed?

Who cares? What does it matter.

Jfc

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strongmanass@reddit

There is zero configuration of metal, plastic, leather, wires, and software that warrants that asking price.

Keep decreasing the price and look at cars in the range as you do. Where do you draw the line and why? Is there any uniform, systematic reason anyone can apply to any car on the market, or is the line just based on what you personally feel warrants the asking price?

It's absurd for absurdity's sake.

That's a large part of it. But every day on this and other car enthusiast forums people complain about design trends in cars, materials, the layout being wrong, and other details. What if you could change some of those things to have a car closer to your preferences?

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Dirty_Pee_Pants@reddit

What do my preferences matter? There's no point. It's not a sports car. It's not a muscle car. It's not really anything if I'm being honest. Am I allowed to just not like an overpriced (obscenely so) car that doesn't really have any merit beyond being expensive?

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strongmanass@reddit

You expressed your opinion that nothing warrants the asking price. I asked you what motivates your opinion. On a related note, do you feel the same way about Bugatti/Pagani/Koenigsegg/GMA/Czinger?

Your preferences may or may not matter for the hypothetical I posed. The question was whether you'd be willing to pay to have some details of a car that are usually not configurable done specifically to your liking. If not then that's up to you.

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HeavyDutyForks@reddit

Exactly, that is exactly my point. Everyone else is trying to justify this by talking about how much money billionaires have

I wouldn't waste $100 on something that's only worth $10 which is probably the billionaire equivalent of them spending $3.5m

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strongmanass@reddit

I wouldn't waste $100 on something that's only worth $10 which is probably the billionaire equivalent of them spending $3.5m

"Worth" has no inherent meaning. For every $100 item you own or consume, there's a $10 equivalent that someone could argue meets the utility and therefore makes your $100 version not worth it.

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Dynamites-Neon@reddit

The status of owning one is worth 3.5 million to someone

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Dirty_Pee_Pants@reddit

Really makes you wonder

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GrynaiTaip@reddit

Would you spend $20k on a car? If you would, then you basically look like those billionaires, to a poor dude from India who makes $5 per day.

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gimpwiz@reddit

You're not the target market so they couldn't care less about the appeal to you.

If people with 9+ figure net worths find it appealing then it's a successful product. If not then it isn't.

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mikolv2@reddit

It's very simple to understand, people inherently want what they can't have. I guarantee you also want something which you cannot have right now, it might not be a car, it might be a house, or a watch. If you have everything and tons of money, what can you not have? A limited run things...

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thegmanater@reddit

Via an extended family member I've spent some time with very high wealth people, over 100mil net worth. Those guys have nothing else to do but compare themselves to others, so exclusively is the biggest way to beat others. It's hard to immediately show off with another business or house, but you show up to the club in a rare RR and then you get one over on the other guy. It's just all ego at that level. Some obviously nice people too, but they play on a different level. If you have a billion dollars, 3.5 mill is nothing.

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The_Strom784@reddit

I said the same for an S class Maybach. Like it’s nice, but any luxury car above $200k is a bit much. But then again, every car is getting closer to that price range nowadays.

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CubanLinxRae@reddit

It’s not worth it because it’s not for you. Stuff like this is for the ultra wealthy that ran out of things to spend money on like double tourbillon minute repeater watches

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FartZuggerberg@reddit

The target demographic of this car are the type of people who wouldn’t notice a difference in their bank account whether they bought a 3.5 million dollar car or $100k car

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arsinoe716@reddit

When you have billions of $$$, $3.5m is pocket change.

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When_hop@reddit

Who gives a fuck.

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TelephoneDesperate84@reddit

I do personally. This car is worth 26 years of my salary and they’re making so little of them that I’ll never even see one the road. Of course this is important news.

Upvote for the STI Wagon btw

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When_hop@reddit

[Here she is](https://i.imgur.com/6bCxkap.jpeg)

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Workodactyl@reddit

SCCA-NNJR?

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When_hop@reddit

Hello neighbor! Yes indeed. Will be at MSNE next Saturday too

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Workodactyl@reddit

Nice! That skyline is unmistakable. I used to race with MSNE, but I haven't gone in a few years. I actually plan to get back to it this summer. Just picked up some dedicated wheels and a new helmet. Maybe I'll see ya out there! Good luck on Saturday!

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When_hop@reddit

Next Saturday's MSNE event is the last one at metlife all year until like August because of the World Cup being hosted there, so it's bascially now or never! I'll be hitting up Pocono instead when I can, PCA runs some nice courses out there.

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Workodactyl@reddit

Good to know! I was wondering how it was going to be handled with FIFA. In that case, I might run with the BMW club down in TD Bank Park until MSNE returns to Meadowlands. May do Poconos too. A coworker and his kids go up there. Thanks for the info!

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When_hop@reddit

I've been meaning to go to the TD Bank Park ones as well but never bothered. This year I probably will due to the limited metlife date. MSNE may run there as well as we're seeking alternate venues due to FIFA.

See ya out there!

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Workodactyl@reddit

Sounds like a plan! Thanks again!

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KpopMarxist@reddit

Damn that looks good

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When_hop@reddit

Thanks!

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TelephoneDesperate84@reddit

Hell yea

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alfredadamski@reddit

So, you make ($3.5 million / 26 years =) 135k USD per year? Not bad! 100k and above sound so much, but most people who earn that much still say that it ain't that much, because the high living costs in areas/places where such salaries are possible, are so high that salaries get eaten up by basic fixed costs like cost of accomodation etc. Despite inflation-minflation, the 100k is still quite a magical threshold for employees. The field and geography I work in, a 100k+ salary job is reserved for people in the leadership, e.g. head of department, that comes with some headache, read: having to manage people. The most I got offered via LinkedIn & Co. job offers from recruiters was around 85k-90k EUR.

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cat_prophecy@reddit

There was a point where I just stopped caring about supercars. Maybe in my hopeful youth I thought I might own one some day. But even a base 911 costs more than my house so I just can't force myself to care any longer.

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MRDR1NL@reddit

Buy when the house is paid off, you have money for car payments

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Thomas_633_Mk2@reddit

Tf kind of house you own for less than 150k USD

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cat_prophecy@reddit

Well it was 160K and I bought it in 2016. It's pretty modest but it's almost half paid off now!

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Thomas_633_Mk2@reddit

Good on you, genuinely, but a 911 is 139k base and your house is likely worth ~300 by now

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RedditPoster05@reddit

I bought my first house in 2018 for 139, sold it 3 years ago for 200k. The house behind me was for sale a year after I bought it for 225. I just lived on the Main Street and they didn’t . They also may have had 50 sqft more than me.

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Thomas_633_Mk2@reddit

Yeah 220-250k is probably closer, I forgot yous haven't seen quite the same increases as us. I did the opposite of being Americacentric

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EfficiencyOk4028@reddit

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OttoVonCranky@reddit

As I stated elsewhere, Rolls Royce's entire business model is separating stupid wealthy people from their money.

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alfredadamski@reddit

Unfortunately, it is so hard to create a luxury brand. Otherwise, I'd / everybody would create a leather goods/fashion luxury brand by just offering leather bags for 100k USD each, sell only ten of each model and be golden.

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Santa_Ricotta69@reddit

I disagree that scarcity is the main component of luxury

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alfredadamski@reddit

Depends on the segment of the luxury goods. Rolex & Hermes could produce zillions of their products, so that everybody could have 100 USD/EUR Rolex branded watch / Hermes bag, but they choose to be snobby and create artificial scarcity.

And for a lot people it is important what kind of people own a certain products. There was time (1990s) in Germany when BMW 3 series was associated 100% with young Turkish migrants, as the 3 series was very popular with that crowd. So a lot of people looked down on BMW 3 series for that particular reason. In the last 20 years that same demographic moved to Mercedes AMGs, as Mercedes Benz also offered very generous leasing deals and said demographic's priority was driving around in an expensive Mercedes Benz AMG, so that they lived still with their parents or even leased a car with several cousins, just to be able to show-off. Therefore, a lot of people in Germany do not consider a Mercedes-Benz AMG as something special anymore, as it is very popular with that demographic and it feels like every Ahmed and their moms/dads are driving one around.

When the Swatch Group launched the "Swatch x Omega" plasticy Omega Seamaster Swatch watches exclusively in their shops and not on their online shop, people formed cues on Swatch shops just to get one of these watches and to sell them overpriced online to someone with a profit. Now you can just buy it online on the Swatch online shop.

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PotatoGamerXxXx@reddit

I agree. Scarcity definitely means something in branding but luxury means a lot more things, especially in cars. If my Camry is more comfortable and has better performance than a Rolls Royce, I find it more luxurious.

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onedarkhorsee@reddit

You're absolutely right.

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80211n@reddit

To someone with 2 billion dollars, this would be the equivalent of someone who earns 30k a year paying 55 dollars for this car.

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opeth10657@reddit

If I was going to spend $3.5m on a car, it wouldn't be that ugly.

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adrr@reddit

For non sports car, it wont hold its value. Sell for a fraction for a fraction of the price once its a few year old. Any high end sports car will go up in value. This is so dumb.

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Emotional_Donut6769@reddit

And veterans cannot feed their family in America while people are able to afford 3.5 mil cars. What a world we live in

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WatchStoredInAss@reddit

Yawn.

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TheWonkiestThing@reddit

Don't read the article, is that the new name?

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Averageinternetdoge@reddit

I have a super duper luxury car nobody can see, drive or own. Who wants to pay me 10 million for it?

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VGS911@reddit

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Disastrous_Error3353@reddit

Sick

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mattortz@reddit

This is the kinda news that I can’t bring myself to care about.

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This_Elk_1460@reddit

Rolls-Royce still the most luxurious car in the world more at 11

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0621Hertz@reddit

The point of this article is its takes more than luxury to sell a car, it’s a it’s exclusivity. Just like getting into the top country clubs in the world, it’s more than just having a fat pocketbook.

Rolls Royce will make as many Phantoms and Cullinans as the market demands, but it takes a one-off sight unseen purchase $3.5 million car to help “elevate” the brand as a whole.

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Anchor_Aways@reddit (OP)

Note this is a Bloomberg article that's rehosted on a non-paywalled news site.

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ChernobylChild@reddit

The Mercury News has one of the worst paywalls

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imc225@reddit

No car is more luxurious than the one very few can buy – The Mercury News https://archive.is/cgata

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Anchor_Aways@reddit (OP)

Strange, I can click it just fine but here's an archive link if you still can't