Exotic vehicle sales fuel Vancouver’s supercar reputation
Auto dealers notice recent surge in the market for high-end vehicles in Metro Vancouver
Robbie Dickson’s latest acquisition is a McLaren 720S, a super-fast sports car that will sell for more than $300,000 when it becomes available to buyers in Canada this year.
The White Rock resident is part of a recent surge that auto dealers are noticing in the market for highend vehicles in Metro Vancouver. Dickson made his latest acquisition earlier this month when the 720S debuted at the Geneva Auto Show, adding it to his collection that already included another McLaren, and a Lamborghini.
“You’ve heard the saying that Vancouver is the supercar capital of the world right now, and it’s so true ... It’s almost to the point where when you see a McLaren or a Lamborghini or a Ferrari, and nobody really even notices,” he said.
Dickson sees international money, particularly from China, as a major driver of this trend: “I think it’s purely because of the amount of wealth — young wealth — in Vancouver.”
Three thousand vehicles valued at more than $150,000 were insured in B.C. last year, according to ICBC. That’s double the number insured just three years earlier, in 2013.
Between 2013 and 2016, the total annual dollar value of vehicle sales in B.C. and the territories shot up 35 per cent, according to Statistics Canada. Meanwhile, the yearly number of sales grew more slowly, increasing by about 20 per cent.
Izzam Ahamed, general manager of Vancouver’s Regency Lexus, has watched an increasing number of customers make the switch from automakers like Honda, Toyota and Hyundai to Lexus and other luxury manufacturers. One factor seems to be the region’s famously high real estate prices.
“People’s perceived wealth has definitely increased with the price of their homes,” he said. “They feel that ... they deserve to be driving a Lexus or any other premium brand.”
Between 2014 and 2016, the Lower Mainland saw a 28-per-cent increase in the number of sales of luxury vehicles like BMW, Mercedes and Jaguar, according to statistics provided by Ahamed.
He believes there’s also been a trickle-down effect as international money flows into the Vancouver area through the real estate market and tourism. Many of the more-recent buyers have been realtors and fashion consultants at high-end clothing stores — even fellow vehicle salespeople.
“We’re not seeing so much of the foreign money, it’s just that we see a lot of people benefiting from consumerism in general in Vancouver,” he said.
At Ferrari Maserati of Vancouver, GM Mark Edmonds agrees that Vancouver’s growing status as a playground for the wealthy explains some of the interest in luxury vehicles. But he also pointed out that many high-end manufacturers now offer models with prices that are more accessible to people who aren’t fabulously wealthy.
“I’m born and raised in Vancouver, and when I was a kid there was one parent on my hockey team that had a Mercedes, and you never saw a Ferrari and you rarely saw a Porsche. A Lamborghini was like a UFO,” Edmonds said.
“Nowadays, everybody has a Mercedes, everybody has a BMW. Now those people who used to buy Mercedes or BMWs try and be a bit different ... they need to go somewhere else.”
Anyone willing to drop more than $150,000 on a car likely has a lot of extra cash, but they’re going to need even more in the coming years as ICBC begins to move away from insuring luxury vehicles. Beginning this year, high-end vehicle owners will have to pay more than double the standard rates for basic insurance, and some owners will also have to buy their own damage policies.