In a pleasing example of the good ol' 'recession, what recession?' spirit, it seems that the luxury and sports car market remained strong in 2010, despite those ever-present 'challenging economic conditions'.
In fact, prestige car finance specialist Oracle Finance has revealed that it saw an increase in the number of prestige and sports cars being financed over the course of 2010. This amounts to an increase of 11 per cent in comparison with the figures for 2009.
This upturn, says Oracle, is a strong indicator that buyers in the luxury car bracket have been keen to take advantage of low interest rates and strong finance deals without the burden of paying for a vehicle outright.
Reflecting Land Rover's strong overall sales in 2010, Range Rover was the best-performing brand for Oracle, accounting for almost 18 per cent of the total finance deals they agreed (more than half of which was for the Range Rover Sport model). Audi was the second most popular car, accounting for 14 per cent of deals, with BMW (12 per cent), Porsche (9 per cent) and Aston Martin (9 per cent) in close attendance.
Part of the reason for the increase in activity at the top end of the prestige market, reckons Oracle, is the relatively low depreciation rates that luxury cars enjoy in comparison with lower-value and lower-spec models. By purchasing a higher-spec model and paying the balance over two, three or four years, buyers aren't taking the hit of laying down large amounts of cash on an outright purchase.
"Although the challenging economic climate has generally slowed spending on luxuries, we have continued to see a high demand for prestige vehicles," says Peter Brook, Managing Director at Oracle. "We have formulated arrangements and partnerships with the leading lenders in the UK and internationally, which allows us to provide the finance packages to meet our customers' needs. As we aren't affiliated to one car brand we tend to have a very savvy clientele who view finance as a separate transaction to purchasing a vehicle, thereby sourcing the best quotes available."
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