As a dealer in Hong Kong for Lamborghini and an array of luxury yacht manufacturers, Leo Wong is in the right place at the right time. In 2010 an influx of wealthy buyers from mainland China pushed up sales in Hong Kong, where conspicuous consumption has long been a spectator sport, of everything from luxury cars and expensive apartments to fine art and fine wine.
Mr Wong’s twin dealerships in Hong Kong and the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou last year sold 65 Lamborghinis priced between HK$3m (US$385,000) and HK$12m. This year will be even better, he predicts.
The impact on the fine wine market in the city has been even more dramatic. Last year Sotheby’s Hong Kong wine sales totalled US$52.5m, up from US$14.3m in 2009 and accounting for 59 per cent of the wine sold by the auction house worldwide, surpassing its sales in New York and London put together.