Luxury vehicle sales hit historic highs

(NewsNation) — While the vast majority of Americans were squeezed by inflation in 2022 and many struggled to make ends meet, luxury car sales hit historic highs.

According to Forbes data, billionaires — the key audience for Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini and Bentley — saw their wealth grow by 62% between March 2020 and March 2022.

And as the bank accounts of the wildly wealthy grew, so did the size of their garages.

There are two remarkable car sales phenomena happening at the same time.

Overall, 2022 was the worst sales year for new cars in more than a decade, with a roughly 8 to 9% decline compared to 2021.

“There are two things going on with the overall car market: One is that prices are out of control,” said economist Daniel Roccato. “The average new car price is over $45,000. The average car payment is over $700 a month.”

On the other hand, Bentley, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce had record years. Rolls-Royce delivered more than 6,000 vehicles in 2022 — the most in its 118-year history.

The average price paid for a Rolls was an eye-popping $500,000.

It was the third straight year of record sales for Bentley and the second consecutive record for Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini.

But for most of us, 2022 was the year of credit card debt — which is up 15% from 2021.

“Some folks in this economy are doing really well. And these people are not really concerned with the price of eggs or a Slurpee,” said Roccato. “In fact, they probably don’t know the price of the car. It’s a routine purchase for them and they are immune to the headwinds that the rest of us mere mortals face every day.”