Sales of luxury and sports cars up 16%
LUXURY cars have been rolling off showroom floors despite lofty pump prices and escalating inflation.
In fact, more of such cars were sold in the first six months of this year than most previous corresponding periods.
Figures from the Motor Traders Association of Singapore and the Land Transport Authority showed that buyers snapped up 1,567 luxury and sports cars - up 16.2 per cent from the same period last year.
The figures exclude an unknown number of Nissan GT-R sports cars which cost $250,000 to $320,000 each and were available here since January.
Many of the high-end brands like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati are posting record sales.
The popularity of these cars, which cost $250,000 to $1.6 million each, contrasts with the overall weaker market. On the whole, car sales in the first half of the year dipped by 10 per cent, largely on the back of fewer certificates of entitlement being released.
Motor traders said the property boom, an influx of new wealthy residents as well as the launch of new models have been fuelling sales.
Lamborghini Singapore managing director Melvin Goh said: ‘Our buyers are getting younger and younger. The youngest is in his early 20s.’
Buyers of Lamborghinis, which cost above $800,000 each, are usually in their 40s.
Mr Goh, noting that most of his customers are businessmen, added: ‘We’ve been seeing a lot of new faces.’
The main beneficiaries of the high-end sales spike include Audi, Maserati and Jaguar, all of which have put out new models, like the Audi R8, Maserati GranTurismo and Jaguar XF.
Audi Singapore managing director Reinhold Carl noted that Audi has been the fastest-growing luxury car brand in the last two years. He attributed this partly to the R8 sports model, which has had ‘a halo effect’ on other models.
Cars in the quarter-million-dollar club which did not do as well as before include Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover and Lexus. For Mercedes and Land Rover, sales tipped towards the less-expensive models, such as the Mercedes C- and E-class and the Land Rover Freelander. On the whole, though, the two brands fared better than last year.
Lexus, which has not put out any new models recently, saw its first slowdown in overall sales since the brand arrived here in 1992.
While most retailers of luxury cars expect the high- end market to grow in the long term, some are bracing themselves for a short-term slowdown.
Mr Goh said: ‘This year is still fairly strong. The concern is whether next year will be as good.’
Industry observers pointed out that the buoyant high-end segment accounted for less than 5 per cent of the market.
Mr Mark Choong, chairman of Toyota distributor Borneo Motors, said car buyers in general will continue to be pressured by the rising costs of fuel, parking and Electronic Road Pricing.
‘Marginal buyers will drop out, and people will gravitate towards more fuel-efficient cars,’ he said.
CHRISTOPHER TAN
Source : Business Times - 02 Aug 2008
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