US posts record sales of luxury cars
While auto sales as a whole have suffered from factory shutdowns and other disruptions due to the pandemic, sales of super-expensive cars, like Ferraris, Bentleys and Lamborghinis, finished 2020 at a blistering pace, Report informs, citing .
Sales of cars costing more than $80,000 were almost double in the fourth quarter what they had been the year before. And for cars costing more than $100,000, sales in the US were up 63% that quarter, said Tyson Jominy, vice president for data analytics at J.D. Power.
Bentley, the 101-year-old ultra-luxury car brand, had its best year ever last year, despite the pandemic totally shutting down its factory in Crewe, England, for seven weeks. Bentley sold 11,206 cars and SUVs last year — just over 100 more vehicles than in 2019, which had already been a record year. Lamborghini, meanwhile, had its most profitable year ever in 2020 and its second best sales year in the brand’s history. Only in 2019 were more Lamborghinis sold. For the whole year, the exotic automaker sold 7,430 cars and SUVs, down 9.5% compared to 2019. But the last quarter of 2020 was the best in the Italian supercar maker’s history and its order banks are already filled for the first nine months of 2021.
“I’ve been in this business 40 years and I’ve never seen it like this,” said Brian Miller, president of Manhattan Motors, a high-end dealership that sells Bentleys, Lamborghinis and Bugattis, among other ultra-luxury brands.
Experts say since the wealthy haven’t been able to spend money on trips, many have turned to luxury goods, like expensive cars.