Luxury Car Sales are Through the Roof Because the Rich are Bored

If you’ve noticed an increase of ultra-luxury cars like Lamborghinis or Ferraris on the street lately, there is a reason.  Sales of these luxury brands have soared since 2020 because of rich people’s boredom. 

Due to the pandemic shutting down factories, the automotive industry as a whole has suffered.  However, luxury brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Bentley ended 2020 with huge increases in their sales.  

“I’ve been in this business 40 years and I’ve never seen it like this.”

Brian Miller, President of Manhattan Motorcars based in New York, NY

Manhattan Motorcars sells luxury vehicles such as Bentleys, Lamborghinis, Bugattis, as well as other really expensive cars.  

In the United States last year, passenger car sales decreased by 10% compared to 2019’s sales.  Tyson Jominy, Vice President for Data & Analytics at J.D. Power describes how the sales increased greatly in the fourth quarter, but only enough to match the pace of the fourth quarter of 2019.  

Things were very different on the luxury side of the industry.  Sales for cars costing more than $80,000 were almost double than the previous year for the fourth quarter.  According to Tyson Jominy, sales of cars costing more than $100,000 increased 63% that quarter. 

Jominy states the flourishing stock market and pandemic have played major roles in these increases of sales.  The wealthy weren’t able to spend as much money on vacations, so they’ve turned to spending their money on expensive items, such as luxury cars.   

Sales of Luxury Cars

2020 was the most profitable year and second best sales year for Lamborghini.  Last year, Bentley turned out its best year in its 111 years selling luxury cars.  Both of these luxury car brands are owned by Volkswagen Group.  

Lamborghini and Bentley are not the only luxury car companies to see changes in their sales.  Ferrari’s sales and revenue were at an all time high in the fourth quarter despite a 10% decrease of sales for the year.  

However, not all luxury car brands saw booming business.  Rolls-Royce’s sales decreased 26% compared to their 2019 sales.  

What do you think of luxury cars like Lamborghini and Ferrari?  Would you like to see more on the streets?