The priciest cars are selling fast

Pricey automobiless&p are impressive on paper and on the road. For their makers, they also often leave a good impression on the income statement. Global car sales in 2022, at around 79m vehicles, are below the level of a decade ago. Yet demand for fancier sets of wheels costing more than €100,000 ($107,000) grew by around 6.5% a year over the same period, according to Bernstein, a broker.Last year the surge was particularly pronounced for the most exclusive motors. Whereas 1.3% fewer cars were sold in 2022 than the year before, according to Global, a consultancy, on January 9th Rolls-Royce said that it had sold 8% more of its ultimate automotive status symbols last year. Ferrari, the Italian manufacturer of rich persons’ playthings (whose biggest shareholder, Exor, also part-owns ’s parent company), may do even better. Between January and September Ferrari sold 20% more cars than in the same period the year before.