The specially commissioned oil paintings that Guido Benedini sells don't feature sunsets or Alpine scenes, but Ducatis and Alfa Romeos. "Cars,” says the CEO of Swiss company Cultwork, “are indicators of our lifestyle now and their design content is an expression of our times.”

Nor is his the only company producing lifestyle accessories – beyond the usual branded caps, polo shirts and key rings – in which the car is the star. The watch world may have been among the first to realise the potency of car brands, with Breitling’s association with Bentley being followed by those between Jaeger- LeCoultre and Aston Martin. Meanwhile celebrity jeweller Stephen Webster, Valjoux and Chronoswiss have each designed watches for Audi.

Porsche, BMW, Ferrari, Morgan and Mercedes have also launched watches, with Carroll Shelby International, the US company behind the Mustang, the most recent to do so, to commemorate its other iconic model, the Cobra (the watch has a wooden dial to mimic the dash). Small wonder too that dandy and Agnelli heir Lapo Elkann has dabbled with innovative clothing lines under the Fiat brand.

But, increasingly, aspirational product categories from fountain pens to laptops are seeing some kind of automotive make-over in a bid to benefit from the glamour that specialist and supercar brands embody. Even children want a taste of it: Land Rover may have had its all-terrain pushchair, but last year Audi become the first auto manufacturer to show at the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, with a 1:2 scale kids’ version of its classic Silver Arrow racing car.

Victoria Lyon, founder of new British cuff link brand GTO, says: "Successful brands begin with superior products or services that, in some instances, become so powerful in their allure that they can seemingly be extended into almost any lifestyle market – and because prestige cars embody power and masculinity, that is perhaps all the more so for them.

“The original product may stand far above the competition but it is also typically out of most people’s price range – but that doesn’t mean the mystique of the car brand isn’t enough to extend into other, more affordable products that people want to buy.” In seeking to capture some of that magic, GTO goes further than most. Its products are made of RFM (‘Real Ferrari Metal’ from vintage vehicles), which to some is more precious than gold. It is now teaming up with the company behind Bluebird (of speed- record fame) for a limited-edition cuff link design along the same lines, with leather goods and jewellery collections also planned. Expect demand to be high when Bluebird, which this year celebrates its centenary, launches electric land and water-speed record attempts this autumn.

It's a feat that might be worth writing home about on the VX-5 laptop, the result of a team-up between tech company Asus and Lamborghini to create a computer that embodies all the speed and potency of the sports car. The VX-5’s one terabyte of solid-state storage makes it the largest on the laptop market, and it even comes turbo-charged: a key boosts the CPU’s performance for tasks that require 0-60 in fewer than the normal nanoseconds.

Alternatively one might choose the nickel, silver and platinum-coated aluminium fountain pen developed last year by Bugatti with the Italian writing instrument company Ferrari da Varese. Like the laptop, this has been no mere branding exercise. The tie-in has resulted in the invention of a new bayonet and ring system for the ‘perfect’ closure of the cap, ensuring the nib does not dry out. Furthermore, according to Ivan Ferrari, director of Ferrari da Varese, not all such products are necessarily bought by consumers who are unable to stretch to the cars themselves.

The Bugatti Veyron pen costs $15,000 (€10,000), just one example of a new generation of car brand spin-off targeting elite fans; car brands, after all, are among the few still able to create lifelong loyalty. “Some car brands not only seem to inspire a love that means people want to buy luxurious and stylish items around the core products,” he says. “They are really luxury brands in their own right now, with the same kind of aura that applies to other luxury brands.”

But just how far can the gloss of polished bodywork, the whiff of engine oil or the sound of rubber on tarmac go? Ron Hansen pondered this for a long time as he sat back at his desk before he realised the answer was right under him. Now his US company RaceChairs makes $8,000 executive chairs using seat parts from the more covetable sportscars, with Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati the most popular brands. He claims the chairs have the same ergonomic design excellence that makes them as comfortable on four small wheels as they are on four Pirelli tyres. But people – usually men – want to sit in them because the brands are sexy. "That works for some car companies and not for others, of course,” he says. “Put it this way, no one has asked for a Ford chair yet.”

The pizazz of prestige cars, notably those of Italian stock, appears to know no limits. For instance, V12 Designs remodels Jaguar engines as bespoke coffee tables and Paul Smith has designed an accessories line inspired by Triumph motorcycles. Some even touch on the ironic. Take, for example, the branded products made by Scrimaglio together with Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo and, most recently Maserati. The glasswork reflects the signature grilles of the automobile makers, and its contents slip down faster than a well-tuned GranCabrio. “These car brands are really very strong lifestyle brands now, such that people will buy our product over a competitor’s because their name is on the label,” says Scrimaglio’s head of marketing Silvia Balza.

Scrimaglio, by the way, is a winemaker.