Now its really serious:
Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini and rival luxury carmakers that just five months ago said they’d buck the recession are finding they’re not immune.
The new millionaires of Asia and the Middle East have curbed spending, executives from companies including Rolls and Ferrari said in interviews at the Geneva Motor Show this week, torpedoing a market they’d counted on to spur growth after the banking crisis eroded orders in Europe and the U.S…
With demand from traditional buyers tumbling after the financial crisis cost 280,000 banking jobs, carmakers are responding with more modest models. Rolls, whose flagship Phantom starts at 300,000 euros ($380,000), will start making the 200,000-euro RR4 in 2009. Porsche SE, maker of the iconic 911, added the cheaper Boxster and Cayman in recent years and will offer the family-size four-door Panamera from September.
I love how Bloomberg, in the face of a report dripping with ironic schadenfreude, remains classically detached, analytical and objective . . .
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Source:
Rolls-Royce, Ferrari Suffer as Slump Reaches New Rich
Marco Bertacche and Laurence Frost
Bloomberg, March 5 2009
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&refer=home&sid=aRcfPZfPrnwI
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