The longer your compound capital, the less you need luck and the more you need Shrewdness.
- Manlobbi
Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
No. of Recommendations: 2
owned for a long while, took a dip yesterday on tarriff announcement..up again today.. if any luxury good/car company has a moat, its this one.
recently combined ops for efficiency, full order book 2 years out, custom packs average 50k per cutomer...tight shareholding, and small divvy. whats not to like ?
thoughts anyone ?
No. of Recommendations: 9
I think that it's a fine brand and a fine firm.
My two hesitations are:
* It is not entirely a financial security. I believe an enormous amount of the interest in the shares is "fan" behaviour: people wanting to be part of the mystique. This explains the perennially lofty valuations better than the financial results do. Sort of a low key meme stock, in a way. Consequently, the long run financial performance of a share might not correspond well to the long run financial performance of the firm.
* I think they are strip mining the brand. Any exclusive brand can boost profits hugely--for a brief while--by increasing production and licensing the brand to cheaper products, but it erodes the brand value quite quickly. Pierre Cardin used to be a serious designer, but is now the label you see on the socks at a dollar store. I don't think "Genuine Ferrari" baby buggies and (yes) underwear will lead to brand longevity. They needed to show serious growth after going public, so they are licensing to the bottom.
The boss of Ferrari vowed in 2013 that they would never produce more than 7000 cars per year, in order to keep that very same exclusivity premium. That's the last year they sold that few : )
Something like 10,000-11,000 these days.
Jim
No. of Recommendations: 1
A bit off topic, just for fun: Rather Lamborghini as Ferrari´s aren't any more what they used to be at "Magnum P.I." times (some oldies might still remember his 328 GTS). Plus Jeremy Clarkson once said Lambo´s were the only supercars which always survived their tests without technical defect.
P.S.: I just bought a great NZD $1900 Impreza here in New Zealand. Great bargain! With the money saved + today's rise of my Berkshire puts it´s tempting to buy in Germany my dream car, a used Gallardo in orange :)
No. of Recommendations: 0
thanks for your views Jim...
my brother (ferrari owner and fan at the time) also argued the "strip mining " point.. and it is relevent, just not sure its there yet...
in terms of numbers produced...Its not a correlation, but the world (until a few days ago ) was minting more and more Millionaires etc, so as TAM is increasing, so should SAM, imho....its still not a lot of cars v demand. what they are doing is much more cistomization, where margins are very high, and unique factor gets some preservation to the buyer...
all IMHO of vourse,
No. of Recommendations: 3
Jeremy Clarkson once said Lambo´s were the only supercars which always survived their tests without technical defect.
Hmm, that sounds dubious. Either the quote, or Mr Clarkson.
Back in the day Lamborghinis were famous for breaking down on the way to a road test. Ferraris are famously robustly built, even if rather pricey maintenance is required regularly. I wouldn't necessarily head across the continent in an older one, but your chassis isn't going to crack even if you pull a "flying Beuller", and your drive shaft won't run through your engine.
And the hilarious Lambo repair bills. I remember hearing $30k for a fender bender, and that was decades ago.
... tempting to buy in Germany my dream car, a used Gallardo in orange
I did take a road trip to Italy in a Gallardo once (not mine!), the first model that I would call an actual car rather than a mobile sculpture. Obviously it's a sports car, not a tourer meant for that, but the amount of small space available is truly amazing...you couldn't fit a soft gym bag, for example. It was once called the world's fasted briefcase.
If you get one, get one made after a few years. The early ones had the ground clearance of a slice of pizza and the ride quality of a brick. That changed hugely after a little while, I don't remember how long. I prefer the bright yellow myself : )
Jim
No. of Recommendations: 2
Back in the day Lamborghinis were famous for breaking down on the way to a road test.
That was before Lamborghini was owned by Audi.
And the hilarious Lambo repair bills.
3 months ago in a German TV show about used supercars they compared 2 similarly priced/age ones (both around 100k Eur), a Lambo and a McLaren. A big service (with timing belt change, requiring to get the engine out) for the McLaren was 7000 Eur, for the Lambo 3500 Eur. No idea though how much that would be for a Ferrari.
the amount of small space available is truly amazing...you couldn't fit a soft gym bag, for example. It was once called the world's fasted briefcase.
I am used to that, as until 5 years ago I might have had the second-fastest briefcase, an Opel GT Roadster with (not standard) 310 PS --- which actually is a rebadged GM Saturn Sky. 66 litre trunk! My motorbikes with topcase and tank bag had more. I once in desperation tried to fit an additional pair of shoes behind or under a seat as the trunk was filled, with ONE soft bag. No chance!
Nevertheless I drove it 7 years until I destroyed it 5 years ago in a very bad accident, with the biggest tour from Germany to Provence, along the coast to Tuscany, and back through the Alps. 5000km with just a soft back and a female passenger who was capable of suffering.
