A few evenings ago in Milan, standing in front of the 1,001-hp Audi Nuvolari, it was almost inevitable to begin with the numbers: 0–100 km/h, power output, a production run limited to 499 cars, twelve of which, according to Audi Italia, have been allocated to the Italian market. Yet listening to Fabio Leggeri explain how clients will be able to select paintwork, stitching, seats, carpets and individual details made something else increasingly apparent. People who can afford to spend several hundred thousand euros on a car have hardly lost their appetite for performance or engineering, but much of the value is now being created around the horsepower: comfort, technology that makes life easier, safety, everyday usability, personalisation and, increasingly, the relationship with the marque itself.
New international research into affluent consumers now puts some fairly precise numbers behind that impression.
The study comes from Altiant, a research company specialising in affluent and high-net-worth consumers. In April 2026 it surveyed 600 people, evenly distributed across the UK, US, France and China, with median investable assets of $2.75 million and median household income of $386,000. The sample is also relatively mature — 57 per cent are over 45 — and almost evenly divided between men and women.
What emerges is an automotive customer who remains deeply emotionally involved with cars, but who is rather harder to define than the traditional image of the luxury-car buyer might suggest. Eighty-two per cent consider a car a necessary part of daily life, 62 per cent regard it as an important expression of their personality and 56 per cent associate it with the ability to pursue their passions. Yet when they actually choose what to buy, practicality, safety and comfort together account for 42 per cent of first-ranked considerations, ahead of the pursuit of outright performance.
That is a revealing shift at a time when the premium automotive industry continues to market cars with power figures that, only a few years ago, belonged almost exclusively to hypercars.
Luxury cars are becoming more grown-up
The horsepower race of the past decade has produced extraordinary results. A thousand horsepower is no longer confined to barely road-legal prototypes; electrification and hybridisation have made acceleration figures available that would have made a supercar from two generations ago look slow, while SUVs weighing well over two tonnes can now deliver performance once reserved for the most extreme sports cars.
The Audi Nuvolari that Milano Luxury Life saw during Milan’s Race Week develops 1,001 hp and accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in 2.6 seconds, yet the way Audi intends to sell it may say even more than its technical specification. Production is limited to 499 cars, the conventional configurator gives way to individual consultation and each client enters a personalisation process that brings the car closer to the logic of bespoke tailoring, yachting and high watchmaking. It is a transformation we had already observed first-hand during the Milan presentation.
The new research suggests that this evolution is responding to a genuine change in demand. Wealthy clients still attach considerable identity value to their cars, but appear increasingly reluctant to sacrifice everything else in the pursuit of performance. A garage can contain a weekend supercar, a large SUV, an electric city car and something more discreet for long journeys; when budgets allow buyers to seek both qualities in the same product, the distinction between an “emotional” car and a “practical” one becomes much less rigid.
For manufacturers, this requires a more sophisticated definition of automotive luxury. High power can still command attention, but it no longer guarantees desirability on its own. A quiet cabin, a seat that remains genuinely comfortable after four hours, driver assistance that does not become intrusive, an interface that can be understood without consulting a manual and a service operation capable of solving problems quickly may ultimately matter more to someone who already owns several cars.
Electric cars interest people who do not need to save money on fuel
The second finding deserves even closer attention because it challenges another common assumption. Within Altiant’s sample, 38 per cent of affluent and high-net-worth respondents already own at least one electric or hybrid vehicle, while another 17 per cent say they will definitely acquire one within the next two years. When broader purchasing intentions are included, the report identifies a theoretical potential penetration of as much as 81 per cent by 2028.
That figure should be read carefully. It is not a market forecast, but an indication of the level of declared openness towards electrified powertrains.
The motivation is equally interesting. Fifty-nine per cent say that rising fuel prices are making electric and hybrid cars more attractive. In a sample with median investable wealth approaching $3 million, the price of petrol is hardly determining whether somebody can afford a car. It appears instead to form part of a broader judgement about efficiency and rational use, suggesting that even very wealthy consumers can be remarkably selective about expenditure they consider unnecessary.
This is where luxury automotive begins to resemble developments already visible elsewhere. High spending power does not imply a willingness to pay indiscriminately. We see the same behaviour in hotels, watches, fashion and even real estate: affluent clients can spend extraordinary amounts when they perceive rarity, quality or access, while remaining surprisingly intolerant of costs that offer little corresponding value.
An electric car fits this logic when it makes certain journeys quieter, smoother and easier; it encounters resistance when it introduces new friction, from charging to long-distance planning. In the upper reaches of the market, the transition to electric power therefore seems less dependent on technological ideology than on whether the product can fit effortlessly into its owner’s life.
Bentley means luxury, Ferrari power, Mercedes comfort
The research also provides a revealing mental map of automotive brands, perhaps even more interesting than the purchase intentions themselves.
When respondents were asked to associate marques with particular characteristics, Bentley scored 82 per cent for luxury, Ferrari 81 per cent for power, Lamborghini 79 per cent for the same attribute and Mercedes-Benz 75 per cent for comfort. Tesla, meanwhile, emerged much more strongly than its competitors on innovation, at 65 per cent; according to Altiant, it was the only brand examined to score above 40 per cent for that association.
Those numbers illustrate how difficult it is to change the territory a marque occupies in the client’s mind. Bentley can build an electric car with more than 800 horsepower, Ferrari can embrace new forms of propulsion and Mercedes can develop extremely high-performance machinery, but each begins with a set of expectations that exists before the customer encounters the new product.
Electrification consequently becomes a cultural challenge as much as a technical one. A Bentley client is unlikely to accept the absence of a conventional engine if it also means losing comfort, tactile quality or a sense of occasion. Someone buying a Ferrari will continue to expect engagement and character whatever the propulsion system. Mercedes must still make technological progress feel as though it is making the journey easier rather than simply adding another layer of complexity.
This is particularly relevant as some of the world’s most established luxury manufacturers prepare for a market in which combustion, hybrid and electric cars are likely to coexist for years rather than succeed one another neatly.
The car remains one of the great personal statements
It might appear contradictory that comfort and practicality are becoming so important when 62 per cent of respondents still consider the car an expression of their personality. In practice, the two sit together rather naturally.
A car remains one of the few luxury goods that functions simultaneously as a private object and a public signal. A watch can be almost invisible; a house spends most of its existence away from other people’s eyes. A car accompanies its owner through everyday life and inevitably becomes part of how that person is perceived.
That helps explain why the relationship with automotive brands remains so intense. Forty-three per cent of Altiant’s sample engage with automotive content online every month and 35 per cent read motoring magazines. Cars therefore remain an interest and a passion, rather than merely an expensive means of transport.
The passion has not disappeared. The way it is being satisfied is changing.
For a generation of clients who grew up when automotive luxury was largely expressed through cylinders, leather, wood and physical scale, the transition can appear almost paradoxical. An electric motor can now deliver more power than a V12, software can influence the experience as much as suspension tuning and silence can deliberately be made more valuable than noise.
The more sophisticated customer, however, appears to want technology to remain in the service of the experience. Altiant describes consumers who want innovation without necessarily wanting the automobile to be completely reinvented: comfort, safety, practicality and design remain remarkably stable reference points even as what sits beneath the bonnet changes.
It is a distinction that parts of the industry have taken several years to understand. During the first phase of the electric transition, manufacturers often appeared convinced that clients primarily wanted to buy technology itself; screens, acceleration, software and range became central to the sales pitch. At the top of the market, technology probably works better when it stops demanding attention and simply makes the car easier to live with.
From ownership to relationship
There is one final area in which luxury automotive is converging with fashion, hospitality and yachting: the growing value of everything that happens after the purchase.
Ferrari has long used events, Corse Clienti, programmes for historic cars and progressive access to its most exclusive models to create a long-term relationship with owners. Bentley, Rolls-Royce and other premium manufacturers have expanded their bespoke operations. Audi, with the Nuvolari, is introducing an individual consultation process around a car designed to take the marque into a far rarer part of the market.
At this level, the value of a client can no longer be measured simply by the margin generated by the car being collected that day. What matters is what they may buy next, how they speak about the marque, which events they attend, whom they introduce to the same community and even how their car is looked after over the years.
This brings automotive closer to the most sophisticated luxury houses. Scarcity still matters, but works best when accompanied by recognition and personal access. Customisation becomes more valuable when clients feel they have participated in creating the object. Technology becomes genuinely premium when it removes friction rather than forcing owners to adapt to it.
Thinking back to the Nuvolari we saw that evening in Via Monte Napoleone, its 1,001 horsepower remains impressive. It would be strange if it did not. Yet the twelve cars allocated to Italy, the individual consultation and the sheer number of details their owners will be able to specify probably offer a more accurate indication of where the market is heading.
People who already own fast cars do not necessarily need to go faster. They may instead want a car that feels more personal, demands fewer compromises, remains enjoyable when traffic makes even a fraction of its available performance irrelevant, and provides a relationship with the manufacturer commensurate with the price they have paid.
Perhaps that is where automotive luxury is heading: having a thousand horsepower at your disposal without needing to use it to understand why the car is worth owning.
