Why Men Ought To Understand Cars

Michael Mwai was the go-to car insider for 12 years, starting out at the East African Standard, Nation Media Group, Business Daily to True Love EA magazine. His love for cars has resulted in a most extraordinary career path, leading to travels around the world where he test drove all the cars you have ever wanted and dreamt of. He run his own design company, using that eye to suss out the attention to detail and point of view to set foot into the luxury world long before it even became a thing with a name. Discovering along the way that car design, this skill requiring up to 10 years of research, meant anticipating what the market needed even before it knew it needed it. Now he runs The Luxury Network which sounds exactly the way you think it does, working behind the scenes with a lot of brands you want to own and some you have never heard of, to live life like it is golden because to him, it is.

- Carol Odero

So much talk about aspiration. But does aspiration actually inspire?

Absolutely. It also has to be put in context. With luxury, the context is, will this ever get to a point where more than 1% will be able to enjoy it? Unfortunately luxury prices keep going up. Then there is premium luxury goods which introduce you to luxury. A Mercedes A class is an entry level to the Maybach (pronounced my-back). Land Rover have Defender, then Freelander, then Range Rover.

What is luxury?

It is simple really. It is not a necessity. It is something you want. You go to a party, see a bigger house, and want it so you buy it. Money and taste do not always go together. Luxury is rare, expensive, high quality, extravagant. I can't think of any sector in the industry that has so many negative words to describe it. Decadent. Unnecessary. Indulgent. Exorbitant.

Aspiration also has a negative connotation. Why live then when we can live now?

The journey we are looking at is having something better. That with time you will achieve more in future than you have achieved now.

Who are these consumers of luxury?