Britain, like the rest of Europe, is facing a recession. Gulf States’ economies, on the other hand, are growing by around 6 percent a year. Add in the fact that the latter are the single largest producer of crude oil in the world and you can easily see why exotic supercars are flying out of the showrooms.
In Dubai, there’s a 20-month waiting list for the US$525,000 Lamborghini Aventador. It’s not just the Lambo: in the Gulf region, there’s every kind of supercar you can think of – and then some more.
Once a year, in the summer, many young affluent Arabs fly their hot wheels 3,000 miles away to London so that they can enjoy certain things that are forbidden in their homeland.
The UK capital is literally swarmed by a supercar brigade, much to the joy of car funs and “carparazzi” who use their cameras or smartphones to capture images and/or videos of them.
Ferrari Enzos, Porsche Carrera GTs, Koenigseggs, Bugatti Veyrons, Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLRs; you name it and it’s there. It’s a supercar lover’s paradise…
There are some Londoners, though, who are not so amused by the supercar invasion. The residents of certain high-class areas, such as Knightsbridge, strongly object to “millionaire boy racers” revving their cars, claiming that they break speed limits and make too much noise, to the point that they disrupt their peaceful sleep.
By their own admission, they are campaigning against this Arab “invasion” and they have approached not only the local authorities, but also the Parliament urging politicians to do something about it.
An article in the Daily Mail, that bastion of British ethics and unbiased journalism, proudly displayed as “evidence” is titled “Invasion of the Bling-ionaires”. Its subtitle reads as follows:
“Their gaudy supercars –flown by private jet- clog the streets outside Harrods as they shop for jewels at £20 million a time. Meet Britain’s jaw-droppingly ostentatious tourists.”
Speeding in a residential area is surely a traffic violation that should be dealt with by the police. The rest strikes us as not-so-cleverly disguised double-speak.
Oh, those dark-skinned tourists are more than welcome to leave hundreds of millions of pounds during their stay, spending more money per day than anyone else. If only they did so in a nice, quiet and civilized way allowing us enjoy our cup of tea without being tortured by those barbaric sounds. That would be jolly good, wouldn’t it?
You can watch the very interesting documentary from Channel 4 right after the break.
By Andrew Tsaousis
VIDEO