By Massimo Mazza and Fabio Stul
How do Brazilians say “Rodeo Drive?” Rua Oscar Freire.
That is the tree-lined street in Sao Paulo’s Jardins neighborhood that is home to some famous names: Dior, Armani, Luis Vuitton, Cavalli,.Cartier. Bulgari. Nespresso. Marc Jacobs. Rua Oscar Freire, named after a famed forensic scientist, is today alive with the vigor that is so characteristic of Brazil these days.
The numbers tell the story: Recording 7.5% growth in 2010, Brazil is now the world’s 8th-largest national economy, ahead of France and just a whisker behind the UK. GDP per capita for the country’s 195 million people is almost $11,000; an estimated 30 million people have entered the middle class in the last decade. And unlike Europe or Japan, Brazil has an enviable demographic profile, with only 6.7% of the population over 65 and a median age under 30.
But it is the top of the pyramid that has the luxury goods industry breathless. McKinsey estimates that about 3 million Brazilians can afford luxury goods. There are 24 billionaires and some 155,000 millionaires, according the 2011 Global Wealth Report. A third of the millionaires are under 35. São Paulo has more helicopters than any other city in the world. The sale of luxury cars has been growing 45% a year.
At the tip of the tip of the pyramid are the High Net Worths—the one-tenth of one percent of households (about 13,700 of them, according to McKinsey estimates) who make at least 46,500 reals a month ($25,200). This group’s money is typically new and self-made. High Net Worths like to spend and show-off. They own two to three vehicles, usually armored. They buy the boats that make landlocked Brasilia a major yacht market.
Then there are the AAAs and the Aspirationals.
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