After Wall Street closed one recent Friday, a young man in jeans and a sports jacket strod
e into the showroom of the Classic Car Club of Manhattan, a few blocks north of Tribeca. He paced between an Aston Martin V8, a Rolls-Royce Corniche, two vintage Ferraris and a dozen others, eager to find something for a night out. Ten minutes later he zipped through the hangar doors in a 2005 Lotus Elise, a bright red, curvy little number. There was no bill to pay and no insurance form. to sign.
Luxury-car clubs are well established in Europe. Now they are catching on in the United States. The idea is that for an annual membership fee, plus (sometimes) a weekly charge, members can have their choice of smart cars. Ron Van Horssen, who recently opened a club near Phoenix, says the model is based on executive-jet sharing. Rich people, he thinks, are realising that "owning an asset is not necessarily the best way of getting the benefits of using it". A spin in a Van Horssen Ferrari Maranello costs $4,500 per week, plus the $7,000 annual fee. No one needs to worry about maintenance or inspections-and, as price tags on new Lamborghinis and Bentleys have climbed, the rich can even save a bit of money.
Only a handful of clubs exist now in America, and none has national scope. Club Sportiva, a pioneer when it opened three years ago, is in San Francisco and San Jose; Exotic Car Share is in Chicago and New York. The Classic Car Club, a British firm, opened its Manhattan branch last July. But most are looking to expand. Torbin Fuller of Club Sportiva predicts that: "We'll be national here in the next two to three years."
A variant on the formula is offered by exotic rental-car companies, which have no annual membership fee, and rent out cars for a day or a week. They are growing too. Dream Car Rentals, a Las Vegas firm with a fleet of 140, is opening a new branch at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. Many of the company's Las Vegas customers are Europeans, and female clients come in only "once in a blue moon," says Gavin Mate, a manager.
The mainstream rental-car companies have also spotted the trend, and are determined not to be left behind. In 2001 Hertz launched its "Prestige Collection", with Jaguars and Lincoln Navigators and special services such as free pick-up. That business, claims Hertz, has been an "unmitigated success" and continues to expand. Enterprise, the largest rental company in North America, reports a nearly 45% jump in luxury-car rentals in the year to October 2005. And with Wall Street bonuses soaring, 2006 is looking pretty good as well.
A young man choosing a car is noted to suggest that
A．young people are now living a luxurious life.
B．luxurious cars are very expensive.
C．luxury-car club is now very popular.
D．renting a car from a club is easy and convenient.
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