Ferrari is the pinnacle of luxury scarcity — across its entire 79-year history, the company has sold just 330,000 cars at an average price today of $500,000. For context, Hermes sells that many Birkins and Kellys roughly every 2 years, and Rolex moves that many watches every 3 months. And yet this ultimate luxury product also lives under the same roof with a widely-beloved professional sports team… one with 400 million rabid fans from all walks of life who live and die by the Scuderia’s performance every F1 race weekend! How is it possible that these two seemi...
Ferrari is the pinnacle of luxury scarcity — across its entire 79-year history, the company has sold just 330,000 cars at an average price today of $500,000. For context, Hermes sells that many Birkins and Kellys roughly every 2 years, and Rolex moves that many watches every 3 months. And yet this ultimate luxury product also lives under the same roof with a widely-beloved professional sports team… one with 400 million rabid fans from all walks of life who live and die by the Scuderia’s performance every F1 race weekend! How is it possible that these two seemingly contradictory customer bases can coexist within the same company? And far from destroying each other’s value, only reinforce it? The answer, it turns out, is a beautiful, bloody, tragic and romantic opera that spans two families and three generations — and just might be one of the best tales we’ve ever told on Acquired. Buckle up for the story of Ferrari.
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Links:
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- Our Ferrari "episode preview" in WSJ!
- Enzo Ferrari by Luca Dal Monte
- Seeing Red on IMDb
- Go Like Hell by A.J. Baime
- Stephen Wilmot's great WSJ piece on Ferrari
- Ferrari factory tour
- Worldly Partners' Multi-Decade Ferrari Study
- All episode sources
Carve Outs:
- Ford v Ferrari
- Maison Wheat sweaters
- Craig Hill scissors
- Amazon grocery service
- Travelpro Altitude backpack
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00:01:08 Intro
00:06:11 Enzo Ferrari's Early Life & Tragedies (1898-1919)
00:12:39 Scuderia Ferrari: Enzo's Racing Dream (1920-1933)
00:25:08 The Prancing Horse & Ferrari's Branding
00:35:41 First Ferrari Road Cars & Le Mans Victory (1947-1949)
00:51:31 F1 & The Tragedies of Enzo's Life (1950s)
01:14:03 Ford vs. Ferrari: The Le Mans Rivalry (1963-1966)
01:21:24 Enzo Sells 50% to Fiat (1969)
01:29:10 Luca di Montezemolo's Return to F1 Glory (1971-1976)
01:52:40 Ferrari's "Pepsi Challenge" and how Luca rescued the company (1991)
02:27:41 Post-IPO Ferrari: New Models & Growth (2015-Present)
02:48:24 The FUV Purosangue & Model Range
03:07:16 Ferrari Luce: The EV Future with Jony Ive
03:12:37 Ferrari Today by the Numbers
03:29:39 Analysis
03:50:04 Carve-Outs + Thank Yous
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
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