Demand for ultra-luxury supercars is going through the sunroof

Australia’s super-rich appear to have shrugged off the cost of living crisis, with sales of luxury cars ­surging around the nation.

McLaren Automotive’s head of Asia Pacific, Charlotte Dickson, inside McLaren’s new Perth dealership.

Australia’s super-rich appear to have shrugged off the cost of living crisis, with sales of luxury cars ­surging around the nation.

And the phenomenon appears to be particularly acute in Western Australia, with a string of high-end car brands all opening new dealerships across Perth in recent months as cashed-up executives splash out on trophy vehicles.

Data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries shows that the sale of luxury cars has continued to surge in 2023, even as interest rates rise and ­consumers grapple with ongoing inflation.

Total sales across Australia for a range of top-level manufacturers including Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren, Aston Martin and Maserati are up almost 20 per cent compared to this time last year. The increase has been even greater in WA, which has seen a 40 per cent jump year on year.

The latest manufacturer preparing to open the doors of a new dealership in the WA capital is British supercar manufacturer McLaren.

The new McLaren showroom will be the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

McLaren’s supercars, which start at more than $400,000 for the base model and run into the millions for bespoke limited edition vehicles, have developed a following among WA’s elite.

The company’s head of Asia Pacific, Charlotte Dickson, told The Australian that WA’s wealth creation had put Perth on the company’s radar.

“We annually review both the supercar market and also the ultra high net worth individual population outlook, and one of the reasons why we set up in Perth was because we could see that population of people was exponentially growing and therefore there’s an opportunity for us to sell here,” she said.

Italian carmaker Maserati recently chose Perth as the first city in the Asia Pacific region for its new generation of dealerships designed to feel more like a luxury boutique than a car yard.

Grant Barling, Maserati’s general manager for Australia and New Zealand, said Perth had long punched above its weight for the company.

“Perth has been probably our best performer for the past five years,” he said.

“When we look at the results from a market share point of view and in the segments we compete in, Perth’s number one in Australia and New Zealand.”

Similarly, Perth earlier this year was the first Australian ­capital to have a showroom built according to the Destination Porsche design concepts launched by the German manufacturer.

Porsche’s CEO for Australia, Daniel Schmollinger, told The Australian the new style of showroom was now being rolled out at Porsche dealerships across the country.

“Obviously we do a lot of things right in Perth because the demand is stronger than ever and continuously growing,” he said.

The impending release of ­several new luxury cars in the months ahead means those Australians with several hundred thousand spare dollars will have plenty of options to choose from, with Lamborghini, Rolls Royce and McLaren all unveiling new models.

Any lingering guilt about such conspicuous consumption in the current era can be somewhat assuaged by the fact that many of the new models all have a level of electrification.

The Lamborghini Revuelto, which will launch in November with an expected price tag of close to $1m, is the brand’s first High Performance Electrified Vehicle hybrid super sports car.

The Rolls Royce Spectre, which starts from $770,000, is described as the world’s first ultra-luxury electric super coupe and will be unveiled in Sydney early next month.

McLaren, meanwhile, is getting lots of interest in its new 750s, which will start arriving in Australia late this year. There’s also ­ongoing demand for its hybrid offering, the Artura.

If there is a cost-of-living crunch, Ms Dickson says McLaren isn’t seeing it.

“I‘m sure it does affect some buyers, but our order banks are very, very strong on our new products,” she said.