Want the kudos but can't afford the car of your dreams? Fear not, these days you can wear the jacket, jingle the keyring and buy the T-shirt without even going for a test drive.
The recent opening of the Alfa Romeo boutique at Brown Thomas, Dublin, marked a new departure for the motor accessories business, and we're not talking alloy wheels. Conveniently located near the menswear department, the snazzy stand oozes luxury. An Alfa Romeo car may be beyond your budget, but you can have a bright red golf umbrella with pearwood handle, leather shoulder strap and aluminum carrying tube, a snip at £89.
The Salice sunglasses in trademark red and black are eye catching and comparatively good value from between £35 to £70. And for the discerning Alfa owner, how better to travel than with matching luggage and a document case shaped like the grill on the car?
The brochure says the collection "echoes the design philosophy of the Alfa 166 - a marriage of exquisite materials and elegant form". But one Alfa Romeo owner skulking sheepishly around the stand this week admitted that perhaps owning the vehicle and a matching Breitling watch at around £2,250 was "a bit too much".
While other car manufacturers have confined their merchandise stands to motor showrooms, in recent years the top end manufacturers such as Rolls Royce, Ferrari and BMW have been expanding the range of accessories they produce to include a full range of clothing and leather goods.
Mr Karl Tsigdinos, editor of Car Driver magazine and presenter on RTE's programme Drive, believes that the proliferation of accessories has followed the global trend for brand extension.
"These goods are marketed to the same people who wear Calvin Klein underwear and Ralph Lauren shirts. It is selling the happy, warm feeling of membership in a certain car club," he said.
However, the branding on most products is deliberately subtle in a bid, it seems, to sell the values that the make of car is perceived to represent and not just the name.
According to Mr Martin Coady, parts and accessories manager for Motor Import, BMW importer in Ireland, the main purpose in producing such accessories is to bring other aspects of people's lifestyles more closely in line with the style of their vehicle.
"It is more about a state of mind and about class then ostentatious labelling," he said. "The logos are placed very subtly on the goods and the quality of the material and design is first class."
With the current economic boom the timing has never been better to bring what are essentially stylish but overpriced souvenirs into the mainstream market. Mr Joe Gantly of Fiat Auto Ireland, Alfa Romeo's distributor here, said the idea of selling the goods in Brown Thomas is that the products "would appeal to a wider group of people other than Alfa Romeo owners".
Exactly what one Alfa Romeo accessory should be used for has been exercising the minds of browsers in the Alfa boutique. One commentator said the rather large magnifying glass on sale for £85 could be used to locate a part of the driver's anatomy. "You know what they say about men with expensive cars," he said.
