Crypto cash makes more Brits drive luxury cars despite raging cost of living crisis
Luxury car owners have increased by 9.2 per cent over the past year, according to data published today.
Figures from accountancy group UHY Hacker Young show that the number of luxury car owners has gone up from 221,124 in 2020 to 241,391 a year later.
According to UHY Hacker Young’s partner David Kendrick, sales were boosted by a combination of the economy bouncing back from the pandemic’s effects as well as a windfall from cryptocurrency, which created “overnight millionaires.”
“The surge in luxury car ownership was a feature of the last stages of the post Covid economic recovery,” Kendrick said.
“We also saw how the crypto-currency boom created ‘overnight millionaires’ who found they could suddenly afford expensive luxury vehicles – a process made much easier by very low interest rates on financed purchase.”
Porsche cars remained the most sought after, with a 10 per cent increase in the number of vehicles on the road on 2020 levels, while Maseratis grew the fastest.
However, the adoption pace is expected to cool down as a result of the cost-of-living crisis biting into consumers’ pockets.
“With interest rates soaring and the crypto bubble bursting, it is unlikely that people will have the appetite to spend so heavily on luxury vehicles,” Kendrick added.
“The luxury car market should expect a big challenge until some of the clouds lift from the economy.”