This a question that I often ask myself, if you take material only costs ( and not the labour ) then I bet there is not £ 1K in extra cost ( mainly the extra cost of the carbon due to its shortage around the world )and I would be surprised at that ( having just built what is effectively an A class )

Nah its a lot more simple than that. People equate quality with price. Max price must mean the best product, after all thats what advertising and marketing tells us so.

You can buy a Subaru WRC that will loose your licence in about 4.5 seconds for about 40K in pounds. A Ferrari which will loose your licence in about 4.6 seconds costs about 120K. Both do the same job, the Subaru probably more complex.

But would people continue to buy a Ferrari if it was offered at 40K, probably not as suddenly it is no longer exclusive and expensive. Equally if A classes were marketed at a lower cost ( as I believe they could easily be ) and suddenly they became much more available, would they hold such esteem and exclusivity as they do now. Not so sure.