New vehicle sales tumbled by more than 30 percent this year because of high interest rates and the economic crisis, but demand for expensive supercars followed a different trend.

Nick Naylor, sales manager at Aston Martin's Sandton dealership, said demand for higher-end models was as strong as ever. "It's certainly not what it used to be," Naylor said. "But we are still sold out. We had a fantastic month last month, but activity in the entry-level models has gone quiet."

The Vantage Coupe is the fourth-best seller, followed by the Vantage Roadster.

"We've got a lot of orders for the DBS [flagship model featured in the latest James Bond film and costing R3.2-million]. If I could get 10 of them, I'd be able to sell them immediately, but the Vantage will be a bit quieter," Naylor said.

Jerry Rowles, principal dealer at Harley-Davidson Sandton, said sales this year were higher than last year despite the downturn. This was until recently, when prices went up drastically.

People with money don't really worry

"We were very counter-trend for most of the year. It's the nature of people in the leisure market. People with money don't really worry too much," Rowles said.

However, when the rand fell hard against foreign currencies two months ago, Harley-Davidson was forced to pass on the cost to its customers, with a 30 percent price increase.

The demand for new cars fell by 34 percent at Investment Cars, while used supercars were relatively resilient with a 15 percent year-on-year decline in sales. Mike Bruce, principal dealer at Investment Cars, said: "While people still want high-end vehicles, they are looking for value for money."

For example, the latest BMW M6 costs R1.2-million brand new, but a used model with a full motor plan and only 23 000km on the clock recently sold for R700 000.

Business Times


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