Abacus | Classic cars in Hong Kong could be an untapped treasure trove for investors
- The last thing an electric car driver wants is to look goofy. No matter how innovative the designs are, classic lines will turn heads without a snigger
- Older second-hand cars are largely shunned in Hong Kong but sought after overseas by driver-investors. Could these be an astute purchase, especially if they were electric?
Sitting around a Sunday afternoon lunch table with a few cans of beer under the belt is a natural forum for entrepreneurs to air ideas of what we are likely to do next. Such was the case about a year ago when I sat with two new friends who hail from Switzerland and found themselves in South Lantau: Töni Sigg and Urs Stemmler.
One thing we have in common, like many guys of our age, is a love of fancy cars – Ferrari, Maserati, Aston Martin, etc – and Urs has even taken the plunge with a 1980s’ era Ferrari Mondial. The semi-classics are more personal, and more suited to Töni’s wallet, and mine. For me that dream car is my old Jaguar XJ V8, a jalopy in 2022 with its four-litre engine. Töni has a laundry list of them, and his most recent acquisition was a Maserati Quattroporte.
I sent them a picture of the latest offering from Toyota, a fully electric LQ, remarking that it looked like an Easter Egg designed by committee.
“That is funny! Really funny,” cracked Töni. Urs remained silent. He is a 30-year bonafide veteran car designer who is too polite to cast the first stone at his peers – though later he agreed it is a hard one to love.
“I feel sorry for car designers. They are pushed into accommodating the industry’s replacement cycle and you just can’t come up with something new and exciting every two years.”
“Perhaps it was designed by a committee forced into a corner. It is really sad to see,” he added.
