Audi makes history with awesome R8

We all know that exclusivity and excellence comes at a price, whatever commodity it is you would like to purchase, writes Declan Colley.

In the case of cars, of course, the price invariably accelerates quicker than the machine itself the more exclusive and excellent it is. Thus, at the upper reaches of the automotive scale, purchase costs can parlay into the stratosphere in very short order.

The Bugatti Veyron is a case in point. Even as the most powerful production car ever made and equipped with levels of technology that would make a jet airliner blanche, Volkswagen (which owns Bugatti) had to sell it at a significant loss - even with a price tag set at over €1m — just to have the satisfaction of a showcase product which it knew few competitors could or would ever match.