Need to Know
04 : 08 : 22

France – Bugatti Automobiles is the latest luxury brand exploring new avenues as a lifestyle company, unveiling a rebranding that will take it ‘beyond being an exclusive hyper-sports car manufacturer to become a wider-reaching luxury brand’.

The refreshed corporate identity, designed in collaboration with brand consultancy Interbrand, is described as bolder, more self-confident, more modern and more progressive, in line with Bugatti’s plans. In a press release, the company says it plans to expand outside of the automotive industry, while also mastering new technologies within it.

The rebranding centres on a blue colour palette in reference to its French origins and fonts inspired by the country’s street signs, while retaining the EB logo. Interbrand’s head of strategy Linda Marquardt says: ‘[The] design encapsulates the iconic heritage of the brand, giving room to its unique elements, such as the EB logo while at the same time opening the brand to an entire new world of luxury experiences.’

In this vein, we’ve previously reported on the need for luxury brands to explore a more liberated future, in which they grow from heritage cues and traditional brand workings to explore ways to have more meaning and engagement with clients.

New York and Miami – With a growing buzz around virtual real estate, The Row is a development of fictional metaverse properties designed by artists, and only accessible to NFT-holding members.

The brainchild of real estate brokerage The Alexander Team and launched by metaverse real estate development company Everyrealm, The Row is described as a master-planned real estate development, where design-conscious collectors can purchase virtual residences. It was launched with daring digital dwellings designed by six artists, including Six N Five studio, Misha Kahn and Daniel Arsham.

‘The metaverse has no physics, no weather and no limitations other than human ingenuity,’ says Janine Yorio, CEO of Everyrealm. 'The Row brings together visionary artists best known for their architectural landscapes and collectors seeking a unique, limited-edition residence that they can deploy across many different metaverses over time.’

The Row demonstrates how the notion of gated communities that exist in real life will be translated online in the future, allowing the metaverse to carve out niche zones for design-conscious or affluent audiences. For more future directions in luxury lifestyles, join us for our Luxury & Hospitality Futures event on 8 September.

Young people are acting now and prioritising putting money away for later in life. Gen Z workers aged 18–25 are saving on average 14% of their income for retirement, according to a new study by investment management company BlackRock, compared with 12% for Millennials, Gen X and Boomers.

As confidence over being on track with retirement savings dips across all generations due to inflation and uncertainty, at 69%, Gen Z have the highest proportion of savers who think they’re getting it right. Having grown up during times of huge financial instability, this generation have received the message that they alone have the responsibility to get started. ‘Gen Z was raised in households where there was a need to save for retirement… and the message is out there that you’re on your own, that you need to start saving early,’ Anne Ackerley, head of BlackRock’s retirement group, explains to CNBC.

As we explored in Money Market: Generation Z, the findings illustrate this generation’s pragmatic approach to finance and its desire to make money work for them.