The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Carmel, California is arguably one of the most important events for car collectors, attracting those who love to get up close and personal with the most rare and beautiful cars in the world.
But now, even contemporary automakers are joining the action, with Aston Martin, Maserati, McLaren, Bugatti and Ferrari all setting up booths at the event. The thinking, reasonably enough, is that those who are interested in browsing collectable cars might also be interested in buying a newer model they can actually drive around. And that thinking seems to be working.
Quite a few of the attendants of the event were certainly so inclined, including Susan Dahi, an investor from San Francisco and complete car fanatic who told Vanity Fair “I’m designing a house now, and this is even more fun…I have to fight with my architect to get what I want—he says no to a 2,000-square-foot closet—but Bugatti is a very special manufacturer. It is unlimited.”
Unsurprisingly, she was at the event to check out Bugatti’s Chiron, the world’s most expensive car, which starts at $2.5 million. Apparently, sales of the car were doing well, and the automakers confirmed to Vanity Fair that they had sold eight of them on sight.
Not bad at all. But were the brands at all concerned about competing with each other in such tight quarters? “We’re not in competition with Ferrari or Lamborghini,” a representative from McLaren said. “Our clients tend to have one of each.” Of course they do. [VF]Also at LLNYC:
