I agree with you, the price tag is very hefty but the cars are very customised. They have:
-LWB-bodies
-Enlarged trunks
-Compartments for chilled towels
-Compartments in the doors for used towels
-Repositioned and enhanced lighting
12" LCD screens in the rear seat snack trays
-High-end 420-watt sound system
-MP3 jacks for the rear seat
-Relocated rear-seat climate controls
-Two rows of rear seats, facing each other
+ Lots of other non standard features.

I have pictures of a Rolex-green(paid by sample) Boxter with a 86 000 dollar price tag. Customusing a Phantom is even more expenive, though I do find 2.2 dollars a bit shady.

It will be interesting to live in a world where the US is no longer "top Dog" -- for the first time in several hundred years, Asia will once again be the worlds leaders -- I imagine this will be very difficult for many westerners to accept -- but it is inevitable.

The thing is, western economies are extremely unstable with increasing trade deficits while China's foreign exchange reserves rise by 30 million dollars per hour.

Although China will be an economic superpower in the near future, I think that the USA will still remain as a cultural superpower - one that the world will look up to and adopt - I can scarcely imagine how people might be buying Chinese cars, watching operas and listening to Chinese songs in the future, unless my Westernised mind is clouding my vision.

Trade deficits need to be financed. It can only be done if there are countries willing to invest in American capital, such as bonds. I think the US Dollar is fundamentally flawed and still overvalued. If the Chinese, Japanese or any of the newer rich countries want to sell their US bonds, the dollar tanks and you could be looking at the next Great Depression. Americans don't save anymore! The chairman of Blackstone Group, a major private equity company, suggested that mandatory saving may be one of the few ways to turn nightmare household finances around in the USA. That too would be difficult for free-spending westerners to accept!

However, I too think China is overvalued. Look at Chinese banking and insurance stocks. Some have doubled and tripled within a year. They are trading at twice the valuation of international peers. Something in China has got to give as well. If China contracts their economy to curb or their property sector slumps, some of their banks may be in big trouble!

First I thought the $2.2 million price is South African Rand, but that only works out to $330,000 US. I don't see how $2.2 million is possible. I believe a Japanese company in Hong Kong or China ordered an armoured Maybach for $2 million US. As the Phantom and Maybach are similarly priced, I can't imagine an unarmoured Phantom, regardless of the level of customization, going for over $2 million.

What is the world coming to? China is still a poor country in the rural areas. The western world appears rich, but is heavily indebted. What do the chronically and hereditarily poor countries think when they see this level of consumption? How similar is the capitalistic world's excesses - ahem, $150 million contracts to play baseball - when compared to those of the Romans towards the end of their empire?