People in Japan are stocking up on Lambos, Stellantis is looking at Morocco, the Beijing Motor Show is cancelled (again), and the day that Tesla isn’t the most registered EV in the United States is coming sooner than you think.
Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday.
When A Ferrari Is More Stable Than Your Currency
The U.S. dollar is strong and the Japanese yen is, well, not strong. What is a wealthy Japanese person to do? Buy a Lamborghini. There’s a great story from Bloomberg talking about this and I’m going to share the Japan Times version titled “Ferrari, Lamborghini and other supercar sales boom in Japan” because the lead photo is a chromed-up Lamborghini LP700-4 roadster.
New registrations of cars costing more than $136,000 grew 64% through the first 10 months of the year, which is even more impressive when you find out that they grew 75% the year before that. What’s going on?
After more than two years of COVID-related restrictions, drivers are spending money on new cars, while the global shift toward electric vehicles is sparking interest in supercars and the growl of their engines, according to Yasuhiro Suyama, president of the Japan Supercar Association.
“If you don’t drive them now, then when?” Suyama said.
Emphasis mine because that quote is going to haunt me for the rest of my life. It’s true. If not now, when? EVs are coming and EVs can be awesome. I also don’t think gas-powered cars are just going to disappear, but a new day is certainly dawning.
Some of this increase is likely due to deliveries catching up to orders, but an analyst in the article also makes the point that “It is better to invest in ultraluxury cars for their resale value rather than holding cash.”
Almost anything is better than holding cash, of course, but it’s true that vehicles like the Ford GT, for instance, continue to appreciate. It’s certainly better than holding Solana.
Stellantis Has Its Eyes On Morocco
Western automakers’ dream for China was access to millions and millions of customers who did not have a strong core of domestic automakers. That dream is over and now Chinese automakers are starting to export cars to Europe in huge numbers.
You know what market could potentially have millions of customers and lacks their own domestic car companies? Africa.
According to this Detroit News piece, Steallantis will invest more than $300 million in its Moroccon plant to increase production to 1 million vehicles a year.
“Stellantis’ global ambition will benefit from the strong development pace of the Middle East and Africa region that aims at contributing to creating a third engine for Stellantis, in addition to North America and Europe,” CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement. “I trust our regional teams to achieve sustainable growth with a number one position in the market and double-digit margin, while leading the energy transition. At Stellantis, we commit to offer our Middle East and Africa customers clean, safe and affordable mobility.”
The company’s existing plant makes Peugeot 208s as well as the electric Citroen Ami and Opel Rocks-e. What’s coming is a “smart car” platform that Stellantis thinks can take over 22% of the African market by the end of the decade.
Covid Ends Hopes Of A Beijing Motor Show This Year
Chinese automakers have a lot to brag about lately, but they’re going to have to do that bragging somewhere other than Beijing because, for the second time this year, the event has been postponed.
The trade show in the world’s largest auto market alternates each year between Beijing and Shanghai, and traditionally attracts both international and domestic automakers, including Volkswagen, Toyota, and Geely.
It is often used to launch new models, though some new electric vehicle brands like Nio have turned to separate events, mostly online, for their launches.
This is the way of the world. Auto shows have a place, but the pandemic has merely accelerated their demise as the only place cars get shown.
Analysts Think Tesla Will Lose Its Majority Registration Advantage Next Year
It’s been a banner year for electric cars in the United States, with registrations for all electric cars up 57% through the first nine months of 2022. If you were curious, that’s a 50% increase in registrations for Tesla and a 71% increase for everyone else.
With Hyundai-Kia-Genesis, Mercedes, Ford, GM, Volkswagen, Volvo, and basically everyone else stepping up their EV game it was only a matter of time before Teslas weren’t the only big player in the space.
Here’s the key detail courtesy of Automotive News:
Based on the current sales trajectory and new introductions from legacy automakers, Autonomy predicts Tesla’s share of EV sales in the U.S. will drop just below 50 percent in the first quarter of 2023 and fall to about 40 percent by the end of next year.
People like to rag on Tesla in the automotive world, but this isn’t evidence of the failure of Tesla. This is evidence of company’s success.
The entire industry was slow to take electric cars seriously and had to watch as the Tesla Model S and then the Tesla Model 3 cut into their sales. The industry learned and adapted and it’s taken almost a decade but everyone else is making cars that are now, if not better than Teslas, are at least competitive.
Also, if you have 40% of a pizza and your 12 other friends have to split 60% of a pizza you still have a lot of pizza.
The Flush
If you had to buy one new-ish hypercar or supercar (built within the last decade) as an investment, where would you (literally) park your money?
Photos: Lamborghini, TrackDays.co.uk, Qoros, Stellantis, Google