… as a fashion statement, rather than because of its performance??
They already do. For what you spend on a Ferrari, you can get equivalent or better performance from other cars with money left over.
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Agree with @shadowfax. There are better cars but people still pay more for Ferraris because they ARE Ferraris. Irrational, yes, but it works. Racing made the brand, selling road cars expanded that brand. Selling Ferrari branded luxury good expands it further but you can go too far and too cheap.
My Citizen watch keeps time as well as a Rolex, costs far less… but it isn’t a Rolex. People will pay for luxury brands even if their function isn’t superior.
The same could be said for Harley Davidson. At one time H-D were the masters of branded merchandise. For years their dealers made the real money selling accessories, not motorcycles.
Porsche does this as well. The designer of the Porsche 911, Butzi Porsche, formed Porsche Design Studio in 1972 to offer design services to more than just car companies. The 911 is an icon. A flawed icon as the mid-engine Porsche Cayman is a better car, but the 911 will always get more performance.
A side story - Butzi was kicked out of design school because his professors said he had no talent. He then designed the Porsche 904 and 911 cars. The 911 is “brand language” that has defined the company for over 50 years!
And it cuts both ways, with luxury clothing designers like Givenchy, Gucci, Cardin and Versace slapping their names on cars. (Can we ever forget the Gucci AMC Hornet? 
)
It makes some sense on an auto when it’s an actual auto designer Bertone or Pininfarina but mostly it’s simply obvious corporate “Name Dropping” but I guess it works.
Which reminds me that I need to run out to buy that Tiffany’s leaf rake for my wife for our anniversary. She’ll be so thrilled!!!
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Yes, people will pay $100 or more for a designer brand jeans, when a $25 pair of Wranglers is just as comfortable, people will pay $200 or more for certain brands of shoes, when a $60 pair of Skechers is just as comfortable, people will pay $1000 or more for a Sony TV, when a Vizio with similar specs costs $500 or less, etc. So yes, people will pay top dollar for a brand.
Absolutely. My daughter is a buyer of “luxury goods” for a major retailer, and I’m continually amazed at what people spend a lot of money on.
Not just luxury brands either. I don’t really consider Eddie Bauer to be a luxury clothing brand, but people sure did want the Eddie Bauer edition Fords back when they were releasing them. And if I remember right, it was just a special color of paint and Eddie Bauer script in the pin stripe.
And don’t forget the people who bought over priced Condos in a high rise with a Moron’s name in Gold letters on the front wall.
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Of course they will! On the way to Costco from our house there is a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, and a Rolls Royce dealership. They don’t do a roaring business but seem to survive even with low oil prices.
Luxury goods have nothing to do with actual needs or practicality; they are a personal statement by the buyer.
A friend of my wife’s husband works in a warehouse on inventory control, but wears a Rolex watch costing $2500. It does not keep any better time than a $60 Timex. I also have a “Rolex” bought at the Bankok, Thailand, night market for $25 US while on a vacation trip.
Every person has the need to have the best of something, be it clothes, tools, vehicles, or appliances. My wife has the world’s best bread maker, a Japanese Zojiorushi, which costs around $500 but makes bread any way you want…
My only special possession is a Harris Tweed sports jacket which will last the life of the wearer.
Some people buy expensive things to “live a lifestyle”, or at least to be able to post pictures of it on social media.
I see an increasing number of Jeep Wranglers around my area. I’d say 9/10 of them have “aggressive”, off road type lift kits and other related accessories installed. Yet very, very few of them appear to have ever been in mud or off the pavement.
To paraphrase Don Henley and my own father… the older I get, the less I understand. And I’d rather have the money.
Meh. Now you met someone that doesn’t have any inclination to buy the best = most expensive of anything. I rarely if ever buy the cheapest or most expensive of anything. I tend to hover in the upper half however.
I just can’t bring myself to waste money on luxury items even if I can afford them. One time in my life, when I was single, I decided I was going to splurge and buy a BMW convertible. I stood around in the showroom for an unreasonable amount of time with salespeople milling all around me. I guess since I was wearing Rustler black jeans and tennis shoes, they figured I didn’t belong there. So I left and bought a new Camry and Suzuki Intruder instead with money left over. Glad I came to my senses…
This discussion reminds me of the story I heard where some woman was bent out of shape because the restaurant worker spilled something on her $30k handbag and “ruined” it. The only way my wife would buy that is if it came stuffed with $29,950 dollars…
You go to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and other middle-east countries and you see more Ferrari than VW.
Yes, I spent some time in Saudi Arabia and there the “top brands” are on everyone’s list.
A typical Sheik would have a gold Dunhill cigarette lighter, a Rolex watch, gold as well, and his car would be an upscale Mercedes. The company even developed a Mercedes 1000, a large engined S Type available in all sorts of colors, like pasted turquoise, pink, etc.
In Asia Mercedes is still the most coveted brand and successful customers would rather buy an unreliable Mercedes than a super reliable Lexus.
Japan probable builds the best motorcycles, but a Harley is still the ultimate status symbol there.
Personally, I do a Life Cycle Costing analysis of \most items I buy. If the best has the lowest overall life cycle cost, that;s what I buy. Otherwise I might go for the cheapest that works safely and buy buy the item more frequently since it has a shorter life.
From a practical point of view there is the nuisance factor to consider. We have about 60 items in the house that are electrical or mechanical. If all these items last 10 years each we still have to replace 6 items per year. If they only last 5 years that would be 12 items per year.
My wife prefers items with the longest life to reduce the nuisance of replacement. After 52 years of marriage we are still only on our 3rd refrigerator, an Amana, . and our third kitchen range, a Whirlpool. We just bought our 4th washing machine, an LG top loader. Previous ones were 2 Maytags and a Whirlpool.Still have our 3rd dryer, a Whirlpool.
One of my personal favorite items is a Swedish stapler which dates from 1969 and seems indestructible.
a new ferrari buyer is one type of person. probably interesting to know. as in how they got money
a used ferrari buyer is probably a wanna bee/sketchy/poser who might be fun to party with
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@Docnick “Everybody needs to have the best of something . . .”
I am a cheapskate and never cared to have designer clothes, a fashionable car, a showplace for a house, etc. I never wanted to be a slave to my possessions; my possessions are to serve me. I was just as happy drinking Billy Beer which was selling for 99¢ a six pack as the most expensive craft beer. I buy the house brand rather than the name brand when I shop the grocery store. Our washing machine is 27 years old, our refrigerator is 24 years old, our kitchen stove is 30 years old.
However, a friend wants to sell me her $7000 Alexander French horn. I played the horn in a couple of rehearsals and have been drooling over it ever since. I probably missed as many notes on the Alexander as my own horn. At 77, I don’t know how many more years I will be playing. I just had $650 worth of work done on my concert horn. I will have it back this week. If it plays better, I may forget the Alexander horn.
You are right, however. Sometimes it is great to have something nice. When I was growing up, my parents bought used Dodges that were several years old. Just before I started high school in 1955, my dad bought a 1954 Buick from a friend who was going to Australia. We really liked that Buick and we enjoyed having a quiet riding car that had good acceleration for the time.
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I had a co-worker that flipped cars on the side, his motto, there is an s for every seat!
Yup!
Today, I had an appointment with my Pulmonologist, and one of the magazines in his waiting room was the Bentley Owners mag. At least I now know who owns the Bentley Continental GT that was parked outside.
I didn’t see anything in the Article about Armini doing design work on their vehicles. Just their branded accessories.
There are people who will buy a name brand just because of the status associated with it, and there are people who will buy a name brand because it has served them well in the past. I’m one of those.
Someone brought up TV brands above. A few years ago we bought a second TV for upstairs. It was a Vizio. It had some sort of circuit board that went bad in the warranty period, the retailer we bought it from handled it and gave us a replacement TV. That second TV had the screen fail 2 months out of warranty. Meanwhile we are still using the Samsung 55 inch we bought in 2008 as our main TV that hasn’t had any issues. So yeah, I’ll buy a Samsung or a Sony before even looking at a Vizio.
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I have a top of the line harmonica from germany