It turns out that the well-to-do also want moral support in their desire to buy as many as possible and costlier as possible exclusive goods. For them the first in Russia project Vladenie is originating. It is actually an alliance of producers and distributors of pricey things from one million dollars up (aircraft, yachts, elite real estate, vintage cars, purebred horses, jewelry, islands etc.).
Organizers of the project call it the demand of the time. In their opinion, the stable macroeconomic setup in Russia and the high oil prices have led to a breathtaking growth of the wellbeing of the Russian elite. This huge money has surged out on the national market and nearly strangled trade, which mostly targets average- and low-income buyers. In the last three years, demand for de luxe commodities and services has increased by more than 200 percent.
The volume of the market of luxury products is today about four billion dollars. In 2004 two times more yachts which cost from one million dollars were bought than the year before. Forty five percent more business-class aircraft were purchased.
Market-watchers have found that the segment of citizens who can easily buy a yacht or a plane has greatly increased. The superrich numbers are expected to reach 20,000 in 2005.
The wealthy Russians are beginning to have their own tastes, likes and even whims. While earlier they flooded showrooms buying Mercedes 600s, Maybachs, Bentleys, today their preferences differ: the moneybags now chose exotics. Vintage cars of 50 and 60 years ago are in demand, islands in the Pacific and Arabian purebred horses are being bought.
What else will the insatiable Russian rich want now? What is to be invented to satiate their unbounded desire for super-expensive things? The project Vladenie will engage in the problems of multimillionaires.
