Forget the Dow Jones or house prices, the true barometer of the global economy is the supercar market, currently flourishing as never before. As well as the perennial Rollers and Ferraris there are more than a dozen manufacturers competing in the rarefied $156,000-and-above (€147,741) market, with many more on the way.
Bugatti is expected to relaunch in 2003 with an awesome Rolls-trouncing super-saloon (put aside at least $312,000); Mercedes will complete its monster V24 Maybach and Bentley is rumoured to be preparing a luxury 4X4. The Mercedes CLK-GTR - which will cost $1.7 million in Britain and more than £1 million should any motorist wish to import it into the Republic - is the daddy of them all, and is currently the most expensive production car in the world. Only 25 will be made and there are 200 people on the waiting list. So if you aren't one of them, or a million is a little rich for your blood, here are a few alternatives.
Bristol Blenheim II: $185,556 in the UK; £199,545 in the Republic
Why you simply must have one: Bristols have long been the choice of the knowledgeable eccentric, boasting aircraft-standard engineering and build quality in a compact, wieldy package.
Why you'll want to sell it: Rather like Barbara Cartland, Bristol cars exist in blissful, anachronistic isolation and are still hand-built with a separate chassis, live rear axle and prosaic Chrysler V8 power. Hardly objects of beauty, they also depreciate alarmingly.
Owners: Tina Turner, Bono, Liam Gallagher, and Richard Branson
Jankel Range Rover 6x6 Hunting $234,000 in the UK; approximately £257,000 in the Republic
Why you simply must have one: Just try to track your hawks across the dunes without one. Used exclusively for hunting in the deserts of the Middle East and north Africa, usually in pursuit of birds of prey.
Why you'll want to sell it: Despite Surrey-based specialist Jankel's best efforts these heavily adapted Range Rover HSEs tend not to have a life expectancy beyond five years. The second-hand market isn't exactly buoyant either.
Owners: Exclusively the preserve of Middle Eastern royalty.
Lister Storm GTL $702,000 (UK price); an estimated £677,000 in the Republic
Why you simply must have one: The (so far) 23 buyers of the all-new Storm have bought one of the most exclusive sports cars in the world, each a member of the schoolboy Valhalla - the 200mph club.
Why you'll want to sell it: It may have a seven litre, 600bhp V12 engine but at speed the Storm is said to handle like a shopping trolley and looks like something from a cheap BBC sci-fi.
Owners: As driven by British television's motoring show Top Gear's Tiff Needell in the British GT championship.
Bentley Continental SC $382,000 in the UK; £397,000 in the Republic
Why you simply must have one: Take my word for it, if any hunk of metal and glass can be worth a quarter of a million this is it. No car imbues its owner with quite such a sense of well being and superiority, while 400bhp ensures that it'll put a grin on your face the size of Cheddar Gorge.
Why you'll want to sell it: The SC has two removable glass roof panels. Rolls Royce says this makes it an old fashioned Sedanca Coupe, but it's more like a Toyota MR2 if you ask me. Why not go for the full blown Azure convertible ($358,000), and buy a BMW with the change?
Owners: Oil sheikhs and scrap metal merchants.
Aston Martin Vantage 600 $364,500 in the UK; approximately £384,000 in the Republic
Why you simply must have one: Though recently upstaged by the new DB7 Vantage (yours for a piffling £92,500 sterling), the 200mph 600 is an old-school Aston with more grunt than a Danish pig farm courtesy of an engine with more horses than the New Forest (a World of Leather interior completes the ranch metaphor). Superexclusive, superprofligate, a super car in every sense.
Why you'll want to sell it: Aston don't disclose mpg, because you'd laugh.
Owners: Toffs with biceps.
BMW 750i High Security $282,000 in the UK; £312,000 for the security conscious in the Republic
Why you simply must have one: This is the SS Bismarck of cars, capable of stopping bullets, bombs and the most determined hijacker. It is built to special order only, but if you are of a nervous disposition and still feel the need to visit the grander department stores in person, this is the car for you.
Why you'll want to sell it: Armouring inevitably takes its toll and this is slower, heavier and thirstier than the standard car. Again, the second-hand market isn't great.
Owners: Eurocrats, business leaders and Russian mafia.
Ferrari 456M GTA $270,800 in the UK; £299,148 to buy in the Republic
Why you simply must have one: What with every sports star owning 550 Maranellos, the 456 is Ferrari's more mature grand tourer with four seats, reasonable luggage space and 185mph top whack.
Why you'll want to sell it: Some find the looks bland.
Owners: Sports stars and Mr Bean himself, Rowan Atkinson
Rolls Royce Silver Seraph $241,000 in the UK and £264,000 in the Republic
Why you simply must have one: Epochs come and go but for many the Roller will always top the tree in the desirability stakes. Silent, serene and sybaritic, when you get behind the wheel of a Roller all your worries disappear.
Why you'll want to sell it: Remove the cigar lighter and it says Made In Germany - with its sale abroad has the Silver Lady lost some of her allure?
Owners: Most of the island of Jersey; and at least three motorists in the Republic.
Mercedes CLK-GTR $1.7m in the UK and more than £1 million in the Republic
Why you simply must have one: The ultimate road racer, but forget 199mph, Le Mans looks and 0-60 in 3.8 seconds, when you buy a CLK you are buying a price tag.
Why you'll want to sell it: You may have seen the track version make like a plane at Le Mans this year when it flipped at 200mph (which makes you wonder about the aerodynamics). And there's no rear view mirror, because there's no rear view.
Owners: Anyone with a Grand Prix circuit in their back yard.
Lamborghini Diablo Roadster $291,000 in the UK and approximately £318,000 in the Republic
Why you simply must have one: The 208mph Diablo has inherited the Countach's crown as the apogee of the absurdist hypercar genre.
Why you'll want to sell it: Lambos tend to have all the build integrity of a Kinder Egg toy, are deeply unpleasant to drive anywhere other than a race track, and are as reliable as British sunshine.
Owners: Jay Kay of Jamiroquai - and yes, that should put you off.
