If you haven’t seen the Oscar-winning Ford vs. Ferrari, first of all, drop everything and go watch it. We’ll wait…
…up to speed now? Excellent, and you’ll now know that in 1963, Ford tried to buy a near-bankrupt Ferrari only for Il Commendatore himself to rebuff the offer at the 11th hour, leading to the whole GT40-demolishing-its-rivals-at-Le Mans thing.
Now, five decades later, it seems the Italian supercar maker has the last laugh, as recent valuations of the company peg it higher than all the Detroit-based carmakers.
At $30 billion, Ferrari is worth more now than Ford, General Motors and its former parent company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Despite more than two months of shutdown and just resuming production this week, Ferrari shares had jumped by 7 per cent on Monday after the Maranello-based carmaker reported better than expected earnings. Amazingly, despite the lockdown, Ferrari also reported an increase of 5 per cent in delivery of its cars, up to 2,738.
How does Ferrari make so much money when delivering just 10,000 cars a year, compared with almost 8 million of General Motors? Much of it comes down to profit: CNBC reports that Ferrari has a profit margin of around 24 per cent on each car, while the American carmakers’ margins hover around 5 per cent.
CNBC also reports that investors think Ferrari’s enviable brand and profit will get it through the Covid-19 difficulties better than other automakers. Good news for investors means great news for enthusiasts of the Prancing Horse. This is just the latest positive news to emerge from Maranello too, as Ferrari today is slowly resuming production after the longest shut-down in the marque’s history as part of it’s ‘Back on Track’ program.
*Images courtesy of Ferrari
