Well over half a million euros' worth of SUVs photographed during a 3-minute walk around central Bratislava in late June. (source: J. T.)
A few years back, I commented on what seemed to be Slovaks' deeply held conviction that they lived in a poor country.
I was reminded of this recently after seeing a second Lamborghini Urus SUV (yours for several hundred thousand euros; a used model is currently on sale for €640,000) parked on the street in Bratislava.
In 2016 I flippantly referred to a "few criminals in Porsches". Porsches are now so ubiquitous that criminality cannot, one hopes, account for all of them.
Take Šamorín – a prosperous enough small town, but not exactly Saint-Tropez – where, during a recent visit, it was hard to miss a corporate promotion by Porsche: the car park of the local swimming baths was littered with up to a dozen of its latest models.
With average gross monthly salaries across Slovakia at only around €1,500, and well under €2,000 even in Bratislava Region, this would seem to require some explaining.
Readers who have not recently bought a Porsche – there must still be a few of you out there – may be interested to learn that the cheapest on-the-road example of its entry-level SUV, the Porsche Macan, starts at just under €75,000.
Its bigger brother, the Porsche Cayenne, a four-wheel drive once memorably described by The Economist magazine as "grotesque" but now a common sight on the streets in and around Bratislava, starts at over €100,000. A pimped-out version can easily set you back in excess of €250,000.
Even thoroughly unremarkable models from supposedly premium brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover retail at sums approaching six figures, once extras are included.
During a May visit to a dimly-lit shopping centre in Trenčín – the kind of place where you can still get a plate of kung-pao for €5 in the food court – I came across a BMW parked in the concourse, presumably left there by a local car dealer to tempt shoppers.
It was one of those half-hearted SUVs that all car manufacturers now seem compelled to make – an anorexic monster truck, if you will.
Yet even this baby Panzer, the windscreen label announced, would set me back €84,000.
