Rolls Royce, whose cars have always been synonymous with wealth and luxury, has just announced the opening of a new showroom in Cambodia. An event that symbolizes how far Cambodia has come since it was a country known above all for the two decades of war and the consequent state of misery in which a large part of the population was living.
Many things have changed since then, but the entry of the big western luxury brands shouldn't make us forget the extent of the economic inequality that afflicts the country. In fact, if the Cambodian economy has grown impressively in the last ten years (at a rate of over 7%), 20% of the population still lives below the poverty line and many more families find themselves immediately above this threshold.
This is how the Associated Press comments on the inauguration of the showroom: "According to the World Bank, the annual per capita income in a predominantly rural nation like ours is around $1000, a figure that would cover less than 0,5% of the cost of the cheapest Rolls Royce”. Yet sales of supercars are booming, growing every year, despite Cambodia boasting one of the highest vehicle import taxes in the world.
Nor is Rolls Royce the only luxury car brand in the Asian country; is in good company with Porsche, BMW, Mercedes and Jaguar. In a state with an almost non-existent middle class, albeit slowly growing, the buyers of these cars are exclusively members of the Cambodian elite, in search of universally recognized 'status-symbols'.
Attachments: asiacorrespondent
