Can you imagine buying a new car every six months? Trading in your MY2010 jalopy for the MY2011 model? Few of us would; after all, the cheapest new cars today are still around US$11,000 (€7,656).

It is, however, what many people do when it comes to portable electronics: notebook computers, mobile phones, PDAs and the like. It’s one of the reasons that Silicon Valley has recovered so quickly in this post-GFC world. There is big demand and big profits to be made in this ever growing sector of the market.

So it’s no wonder that luxury carmakers – among them Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and BMW – are experiencing healthy sales in the areas surrounding the Californian technological hamlet.

Brendan Harrington, President and General Manager of Lexus of Stevens Creek in Santa Clara, CA, is certainly feeling the good vibrations. Here’s what he told the Wall Street Journal: “It is directly related to the tech boom. [Our customers] tell us on a regular basis, ‘Our stock’s up, we’re buying. Our bonuses are good, we’re buying.’”

With LinkedIn, Facebook and Zynga (makers of Farmville, among others) all offering or planning to offer their shares on the public market, employees are trading in their stock for cash and that cash for high-end cars.

Mr. Harrington added: “We’ll start seeing LinkedIn people as soon as they can cash in their stock. We are very bullish on the future because we know that effect.”

Richard Levinsohn, General Manager of Porsche of Stevens Creek, attributes the boost in sales to pent-up demand for luxury goods following the Global Financial Crisis.

Beshoff MotorCars’ Managing Director Phil Garrat also attributes his rebounding sales to the renewed vigour in Silicon Valley: “There’s no question in our minds that there is a lot more confidence [there].”

In 2010, there were 50,000 new car registrations in Santa Clara, up 9,000 from the year before. In pre-GFC 2007, some 70,000 new cars were registered in that county alone. Stephen Smith, President of the Silicon Valley Auto Dealers Association, doesn’t expect registrations to return to those levels until at least 2013.

By Tristan Hankins