Super high-end car sales on the upswing in Canada

The numbers Chris Green tosses out as he leads a walk-around tour of McLaren’s new 570S sports car would cause any gear head to geek out.

The orange waist-high, scissor-doored road rocket weighs about the same as a Toyota Corolla, which is unremarkable unless that Corolla is packing the British car’s 562 horsepower turbocharged V-8 engine.

It’s enough to propel the McLaren to 100 kilometres an hour in a blink over three seconds, says Green, McLaren’s national brand manager. It will reach 200 km/h in 9.5 seconds, about as long as it takes the Corolla to get to 100, and has a top speed of 328 km/h (204 mph).

Fuel economy, if you must know, is estimated at around 11 litres per 100 km, possibly achieved by putting a raw egg between your right foot and the gas pedal.

But it’s the car’s price (not official since deliveries won’t start till fall) that will keep the 570S literally a dream machine for all but a few lucky Canadians – roughly $215,000-$230,000. It is, says Green, McLaren’s entry level car.

Exclusivity is very much the point of cars the 570S and its even pricier brethren, and apparently its something more wealthy Canadians seem to want.

Sales of super-premium automobiles, which industry analysts price roughly at $200,000 and above, have climbed steadily in recent years. The actual numbers are microscopic – only 1,132 2014 models were registered last year according to figures supplied by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, compared with the 1.8 million cars and light trucks Canadians bought last year.

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But the numbers have been rising year-over-year. Total new and used (sorry, vintage) super-premium car registrations have climbed from 17,321 in 2010 to 21,963 last year.

That would include cars like the 1,001-horsepower Bugatti Veyron, which costs upwards of $2 million, of which there are at least a couple in Canada, and Porsche’s fabulous 918 Spyder, whose hybrid power train lets it rocket to 100 km/h in a tick over two seconds.

Porsche Canada won’t say how many 918s, which start at US$845,000, have been sold here but did say it sold 30 of its predecessor, the V-10-engined Carrera GT, out of 1,270 bought worldwide.

Whole luxury-car segment growing in Canada

Luxury car dealers have been building big new showrooms in major centres such as Vancouver and Toronto, reflecting general growth in upmarket brands.

The idea of luxury itself has become democratized, with features once considered reserved for premium car models – leather interior, power everything, killer sound systems, powerful engines – now common to more plebeian family transportation.

And carmakers traditionally seen as aspirational brands – Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, Cadillac – have expanded model lineups and increased volumes, removing their air of exclusivity.

“These buyers don’t want to be associated with those brands that are moving downstream, so I think that does push them into these higher-end brands and certainly higher-end models,” said auto-industry analyst Jeff Schuster, senior vice-president for forecasting of LMC Automotive.

If it’s one thing the rich don’t like it’s seeing everyone behind the wheel of the same kind of car they drive.

“A Rolls-Royce owner does not want to come up to a stop sign and see another Rolls-Royce, and if they do it better not look anything like theirs,” Gerry Spahn, communications manager for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars in North America, told Yahoo Canada News. “They’re buying into exclusivity and they’re buying into a unique product. This is what our owners tell us.”

You certainly get that with a Rolls. The storied British automaker, now owned by Germany’s BMW Group, sold only 4,063 cars worldwide last year, a sales record for the fifth consecutive year. Official figures for Canada aren’t available but it’s thought less than a hundred were sold through its four Canadian dealerships.

Although the sales figure looks small, Spahn said Rolls-Royce considers the market on par with some European countries.

“Canada is an extremely significant market,” he said.

Schuster said his firm’s numbers bear out the growing appetite for really expensive wheels in Canada and globally.

“In the models we do track, which would include your Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Maseratis, Ferraris, Rolls-Royce, there certainly has been some growth when we look at last year relative to 2013, and we’re seeing 2015 off to a strong start as well,” he said in an interview.

The young and the wealthy driving ultra-premium car market

Who are these one-per-centers? Increasingly, they’re not old-money types but young entrepreneurs who’ve prospered in the Internet economy.

“We are dealing primarily with first-generation self-made money,” said Spahn. “Our owners are wealthy; they made their wealth. You do have that ‘I made my money and I want to have that air of exclusivity.’ “

The average age of the Rolls-Royce customer has dropped to 45 from 65, he said.

McLaren’s Green agrees.

“There’s a lot of young money here,” he said, adding wealthy Asian expatriates are also part of the customer base.

Every Rolls is “bespoke,” meaning it’s built to the precise specifications of the customer. Prices start at the Canadian equivalent of about $300,000 for a Ghost model, and range up past $500,000 for a Phantom.

Spahn said Rolls-Royce’s Canadian sales have grown steadily, helped by the introduction of the new Ghost Series II and Wraith models. It has plans to expand its range of model offerings with a new drop-head (convertible) coupe. Also in the pipeline, an SUV bearing the company’s famous Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament, which Spahn said should sell well in Canada.

“A lot of our owners have been lobbying us to make this decision,” he said. “They want it; they want an all-wheel-drive Rolls-Royce to drive all year round.”

McLaren, which produces only 1,700-1,800 cars a year, is a relative upstart in the ultra high-end market. Best known for its championship-winning Formula 1 team, it introduced its F1 super car in the 1990s. Only 106 were made.

But in the last decade or so, the independent company has launched a series of models to compete with the likes of Ferrari (owned by Fiat), Lamborghini (part of Volkswagen Group) and boutique super-car makers such as Pagani and Koenigsegg.

About 170 McLarens have been sold in Canada since 2011 through its national distributor, Pfaff Automotive Partners.

Canada is a strong market for McLaren, said Green. For instance, of the 375 sold-out McLaren P1 GTRs worldwide, three were purchased in Vancouver.

Green said McLaren plans to cap its annual production at 4,000, compared with Ferrari’s 7,000 cars a year.

Despite the target market’s deep pockets and its relative insulation from the ups and downs of the economy, super high-end cars still are considered a discretionary purchase.

The car is not transportation but a status symbol. Rolls-Royce is competing not against other carmakers but purveyors of executive jets and prime real estate, said Spahn.

“We’re up against Gulfstream, Bombardier, the new Trump real estate project in Toronto, the art piece that just went for three million, the yacht,” he said.

“Absolutely no one in the world needs a Rolls-Royce, even those of our owners that use it for business purposes.”

Still, demographics point to continued growth for ultra high-end brands.

“We are continuing to see the number of buyers that can afford these types of vehicles expand, so I don’t think we’re likely to see that flatten out,” said Schuster.

“A lot of this tends to be a younger wealth that is looking to spend it as well. You’re going to have that in the background, which I think is a positive for the market.”