Those who casually glance at a recent TMZ report about Kobe Bryant's new Ferrari 458 Italia might notice that the hoops star spent approximately $329,000 on the his new ride. The issue? The car's MSRP is about $229,000. So did Kobe pay $100,000 too much?
According to the car blog Jalopnik, he didn't. After all, MSRP stands for Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price - and exotic car dealers zero in on the "suggested" part. Since these vehicles are tough to sell and the profit margins aren't that high, dealers tend to tack on quite a bit to the price in order to ensure they get their money. And that doesn't even get into the price for some of the ridiculous options that these cars come with.
The news source reports that although Bryant dropped big bucks on the car, it's not all that uncommon to pay $100,000 more than the MSRP for a rare care like the 458 Italia. Bryant still paid a lot less than Eric Clapton, who reportedly spent $4.7 million on a custom 458.
With such a high price tag for the car, Bryant will need to invest heavily into auto maintenance to ensure that the vehicle doesn't need any major car repairs down the road.