waboom
08-13-2008, 09:56 AM
I was reading an article (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/in_the_showroom/article4484223.ece) in the London Times about the new Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport, and this section caught my eye:
After the gongs for best in show have been handed out next Sunday, guests will get the chance to become the first owner of a convertible Veyron at the annual Gooding & Company auction in Pebble Beach. The successful bidder for lot 134 in the sales catalogue will not be able to drive away in a Grand Sport that evening but will become the owner of the first Grand Sport to be built, scheduled for spring next year – just in time for summer. No sign of a crunchy economy here, then.
With a standard Veyron costing about £1m (up from £839,000 last year because of the shifting sterling-to-euro exchange rate), those in the know are predicting that the bidding could reach near double this amount on the night. The winning bid will be donated to charity – after Bugatti has deducted the Grand Sport’s list price. A little uncharitable on Bugatti’s part, perhaps?
I think Venture Vehicles should do the same thing: auction off the first Venture One off the production line, and donate the profits to charity. Owning production vehicle #1 would be a major "ego" feather in anyone's cap, and this would mean bids well in excess of the MSRP, ensuring a large charitable donation. Venture Vehicles already shows support for various charitable organizations via the "Please support our friends" link on their forums page, so it should be pretty easy for them to designate a good cause the funds would go to. I'm sure the auction could easily be done through eBay, with plenty of marketing announcements done beforehand. Even the auction itself should generate additional publicity for Venture Vehicles. (For maximum impact, they should probably do the auction about 3 months ahead of the official ship date.) And this way, if a Hollywood celebrity wants to "jump the line" and get a Venture One ahead of the "deposit" folks, nobody is going to begrudge them paying the "charity fee"!
What do you think? Should Venture Vehicles auction off production vehicle #1?
After the gongs for best in show have been handed out next Sunday, guests will get the chance to become the first owner of a convertible Veyron at the annual Gooding & Company auction in Pebble Beach. The successful bidder for lot 134 in the sales catalogue will not be able to drive away in a Grand Sport that evening but will become the owner of the first Grand Sport to be built, scheduled for spring next year – just in time for summer. No sign of a crunchy economy here, then.
With a standard Veyron costing about £1m (up from £839,000 last year because of the shifting sterling-to-euro exchange rate), those in the know are predicting that the bidding could reach near double this amount on the night. The winning bid will be donated to charity – after Bugatti has deducted the Grand Sport’s list price. A little uncharitable on Bugatti’s part, perhaps?
I think Venture Vehicles should do the same thing: auction off the first Venture One off the production line, and donate the profits to charity. Owning production vehicle #1 would be a major "ego" feather in anyone's cap, and this would mean bids well in excess of the MSRP, ensuring a large charitable donation. Venture Vehicles already shows support for various charitable organizations via the "Please support our friends" link on their forums page, so it should be pretty easy for them to designate a good cause the funds would go to. I'm sure the auction could easily be done through eBay, with plenty of marketing announcements done beforehand. Even the auction itself should generate additional publicity for Venture Vehicles. (For maximum impact, they should probably do the auction about 3 months ahead of the official ship date.) And this way, if a Hollywood celebrity wants to "jump the line" and get a Venture One ahead of the "deposit" folks, nobody is going to begrudge them paying the "charity fee"!
What do you think? Should Venture Vehicles auction off production vehicle #1?