The Top 10 things you CAN'T have for Christmas 2008

Year's end is rolling round again and it's time to get set for the holiday season, meaning it's also time for our annual look back at some of the most outrageously expensive and as yet unattainable products we've featured in Gizmag during 2008. Read on for our selection of the coolest "toys" that you more than likely wont find under the tree this year.

1. The world's most expensive motorcycle?

If you’re the kinda person that drives a Reventon, won’t tap on a laptop unless it’s a Luvaglio, and only sails Mangusta, then boy have we got the motorcycle for you! It’s called the Ecosse Titanium Series - so called because it sports the world’s first all-titanium frame. And from the 200-horsepower, 2150cc polished billet aluminum v-twin engine, to the MotoGP-spec Ohlins suspension, to the radially-mounted 6-piston billet ISR front brake calipers - with an individual brake pad for each of the 12 pistons - every detail screams "you can't afford me!" At USD$275,000 it's not cheap - but it does come with a free watch.

2. Airbus A380 becomes a private jet

It’s designed to carry up to 800 passengers, but HRH Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal has his eye on one of his very own. Airbus has confirmed that the Saudi Prince has placed the first private order for the $300 million Airbus A380 superjumbo. Bringing a whole new meaning to the notion of private aviation, the massive A380 VIP “Flying Palace” will be fitted out to become the world’s largest private jet Jet-Envy and will replace the Prince’s current ride – a Boeing Boeing 747-400.

3. The world’s largest and most expensive ship

It’s destined to be the world’s largest cruise ship – when launched next year, Royal Caribbean International ’s US$1.24 billion Project Genesis will be 1,180 feet long, and carry 5400 passengers (6,400 at a pinch). It’s the most expensive ship in history, and it’s longer, wider and taller than the largest ocean liner ever built, (Cunard’s QM II), 43 per cent larger in size than the world’s largest cruise ship, (Freedom of the Seas) and remarkably, bigger than any military ship ever built, aircraft carriers included. In a world where choice of amenities count, Project Genesis has yet another trump card – in the the center of the ship is a lush, tropical park which opens to the sky.

4. Luxury recreational submarines

The submarine was invented several hundred years before the automobile, but it’s not surprising that it is taking a little longer to reach ubiquitous recreational usage. A bent fender is small change indeed compared to the inconvenience of Decompression Sickness, asphyxiation or perhaps being crushed to death. The risk of such perils had to be comprehensively mitigated before recreational submarines Submarine could safely come to market and the Dutch U-Boat Worx Personal-Submarines was the first to get it all right with the C-Quester one-seater CQ1 and two-seater CQ2. Now the company is set to launch a completely revamped CQ2 aimed at the SuperYacht Market and a two, three and four-seater CQ3 (pictured) aimed at the tourism industry. An exclusive few might still find one of these under the tree with prices starting from UKP315,000 (EUR395).

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