Auto News 5

A few months ago at the New York International Auto Show, I had lunch with Spyker CEO Victor Muller and his new chief commercial officer, John Walton, the former boss of Aston Martin North America. The conversation turned to the Bugatti Veyron, and I wondered why it would be at all difficult to sell only 300 copies of the fastest production car ever built. Muller and Walton then gave a dissertation on rich-guy psychology, a topic they know a little bit about. At the Veyron level, a lot of buyers aren't interested in the car itself so much as what the car represents -- an item I have that you don't, even though you're also rich. Thus, in some locales, certain supercar manufacturers finagle logistics to deliver multiple cars simultaneously, so as not to chafe delicate egos. "It's a lot easier to sell the first car than the 300th car," said Walton. It seems that even at the extreme upper echelon of the financial hierarchy, we're constantly measuring ourselves versus our neighbors.