Mo' Money Mo' Problems

An exploding demographic of serious buyers is jostling relationships between brands and long-time collectors – and invite-only releases just add to the strain.

- Robert Ross

THANKS TO THE one-two wallop of an extended pandemic-induced shopping spree and the hobbled supply chain, it’s been hard to get a car for a while now – luxury brands very much included. And while top-tier marques are subject to the same inventory woes as any other sector, with a dearth of everything from wiring harnesses to microchips choking manufacturing flow to a trickle, the most elite automakers face a longer-term problem: how to keep VIP customers happy amid an explosion of global wealth, with the number of potential buyers growing exponentially even as production numbers barely budge. It has become such an issue that some marques can’t even take orders, with models at production capacity for years to come.

Artificial scarcity has always been a tightrope to walk in the car world, and careful allocation is precisely how Ferrari, Bugatti, Lamborghini and others keep their models exclusive even as those vehicles become attainable for an increasingly large pool of buyers. But the sheer force of demand has grown to the point where cracks are starting to show, with more collectors wondering why they were left off RSVP lists for invite-only releases and others complaining of arrivistes receiving unearned favouritism.