The true "equity" in a great number of cars on the road--those financed, or leased, is held by a bank, institution or business....
Remember the old false-fronted buildings in the frontier towns portrayed in numerous westerns...?
The wherewithal of those business was likely much smaller than the storefront indicated...
In other words, some consumers will go to great lengths to project "success" when in actuality they haven't quite "made it"...leasing, even renting, a luxury car for that reason is quite common around the world...
It's common because people can't really afford them :-), and don't want to finance the full amount if they're not going to keep the vehicle past 3 years anyway.
One nice thing that a lease offers is a defined cost. If your luxury sedan turns out to be a basket case, the warranty covers the problems during the lease, and you can simply wash your hands of it at the end of the term. Trying to sell a depreciated-to-$40K car with problems is not easy.
Also agree that leasing helps fix the cost. Besides reliability issues, you win if depreciation is higher then was estimated up front (the one time I leased, the car ended up worth several thousand less then the final balloon payment so I simply turned it back in).
If you want to drive a new car every three years, and you buy & resell, VAT will cost you a lot more then a lease.
Like 0% financing, it's possible that they're irrational from the perspective of a financial institution but overall good for the manufacturer because more cars get sold.
It's much more of an issue for those of us who like to buy several year old luxury cars -- they have become much harder and more expensive to repair in the last 10 years or so.