Feature: Super cars roll into Vancouver

VANCOUVER (Xinhua) - Would you pay $500,000 for a car? How about $6 million? Well, if that's only a dream for the moment, you can at least pay $50 in Vancouver to spend a day walking among some the world's most exclusive and expensive automobiles this weekend.

Here at the fifth annual Luxury & Supercar Weekend at Vancouver 's beautiful VanDusen Botanical Garden, more than $100-million luxury cars were on show, including top brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and Maserati - and a red convertible which is valued at around $6 million.  

Craig Stowe, director of the super car show, told Xinhua that Vancouver - known for its multi-million dollar houses and wealthy socialites - has more luxury car ownership per capita than any other markets in North America.

"It's a beautiful, small city, with great roads and a lot of wealth. And with wealth comes appreciation of super cars and the more super cars you get on the road, the more super cars are bought," he said.

According to Stowe, driving a $500,000 car, like a Lamborghini, around downtown Vancouver or up the highway to Whistler resort is just a common sight to the local people.

"For those who owns a super car, it says you've arrived. It's a statement where you're expressing to people that you can afford to buy the very, very best," he added.

Chris Petersen, Lamborghini Vancouver store manager, said Lamborghini's sales store in Vancouver has become the brand's second best-selling store among all of their locations in Canada and the United States.

"The roads are quite decent and there's also an influx of people with money that have been moving here, want to retire here, just want to vacation here, especially in the summer because it is quite nice," Petersen said.

Visitors to a high-end show like this want to be impressed, and organizers say they don't want to have the same cars coming back year after year. They like to target rare editions such as a 1933 Alpha Romeo which was custom designed and built in Paris. It's the only one on the planet.

Nigel Mathews, a car selection director, said the Alpha Romeo went to Villa d'Este in 2012. Villa d'Este is on the edge of Lake Como in Italy, and this is probably the most significant car show and it's certainly the oldest concourse car competition in the world.

The three-day super car show, which ends on Sunday evening, has drawn many fans.

"It is only a dream for us to have such an expensive car. But it is better to have a dream than not, right?" said a young couple with a smile.