Tuesday 24 July 2018

CULLINAN



Cullinan is the name of a town in South Africa and it is also the name of a very large diamond which was found there. Now it is also the name of an automobile manufactured by Rolls-Royce and an inordinate number of them can be found in Vancouver. That city was chosen for the launch recently of this tough and expensive SUV. Six were sold on the first day. Each costs about $400,000.
Sometimes the assumptions we make turn out to be true. When visiting Vancouver one quickly gets the impression that the city has more than its fair share of fine vehicles, many of them driven by Asians who look to be adolescents. The fact that they are indeed young is verified somewhat when there is a large N affixed to the rear of the $250,000 car (indicating that a 'Novice" is behind the wheel). According to a Roll's dealer, over 70% of his customers are Asian, One of them has 14 Rolls- Royces. Many clients are female and many of those under 30 buy either the Wraith coupe or the Dawn convertible.
  To park such thoroughbreds a new car condo is being constructed. They will be secure in the gated building which supposedly provides good views and air conditioning. According the the Chinese-English website, 80% of the units are booked.



UBC - The University of Beautiful Cars

McLaren MP4-12C Convertible
UBC, Vancouver

     When they are not driving around the city, some may be studying at UBC where such large numbers of exotic cars have been spotted that the initials of that university have been altered.  The one above is a McLaren and I can assure you that it is more expensive than any vehicle made by Mitsubishi.

Sources:

     "Rich Moms and Millennials Make Canada Hot for Rolls-Royce," Natalie Obiko Pearson, Bloomberg News, June 6,2018.
     "With the New Cullinan, Rolls-Royce Reveals a Diamond in the Rough," Brendan McAleer, The Globe and Mail, May 28, 2018.
     There are a couple of websites about the University of Beautiful Cars. See for example:
http://universityofbeautifulcars.tumblr.com/u

Post Script
     Such expensive vehicles are causing problems for the provincial insurer. Minor fender-benders cause major expenditures.

     I suppose the marketing people at Rolls were not overly worried about the postcolonial implications of choosing a name which is derived from the diamond magnate - Thomas Cullinan.

    I would imagine that Western would be lower in the car ranking category than UBC.  I remember , however, conversations here in London about the luxury vehicles noted on the campus parking lots, particularly at one of the affiliated colleges.  My impression is that Western is quite strong on this scale and that impression was buttressed when I came out of Weldon Library on a Sunday this spring and a car like this one was parked next to mine. I had to go home and look it up to identify it.



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