ITALY - UK PARTNERS

IN FOCUS | 11 www.italchamind.eu Italy and the UK, home to luxury cars The greatest automotive industries and their market results I taly and the United Kingdom have many things in common, and the high reputation of their luxury car industry is one of them. They both praise a rich history in the automotive sector with some of the most famous luxury brands in the world, some of which are listed below. Maserati was established in 1914 as a car workshop and built their first car in 1926. Producing both luxury and racing cars, the Italian company became famous mainly for the first editions and their iconic trident logo. In 1993, the company was incorporated into the Fiat group. In 1947, Enzo Ferrari founded Ferrari, with the aim of racing at Formula 1 and beating their rival Alfa Romeo. According to Brand Finance’s Global 500 report, Ferrari was the world’s strongest brand in 2019, with an unparalleled level of brand recognition. Another Italian company recognised for iconic sports and luxury cars is Lamborghini, founded in 1963 by Ferruccio Lamborghini, who started naming all the cars models after the tauromachic history. On the British side, Rolls Royce built its first car in 1904. During its long history, the company kept a central role in the cars production and re-gained a central role in the sector after its acquisition by BMW. The Aston Martin brand was founded in 1914 and over the years became famous for the construction of luxury sports cars. The brand’s recognisability reached its peak in the ‘60s, when it appeared in James Bond films. Bentley motors was created in 1919 and is probably the emblem of British luxury cars, known for the elegance of their models. The company has suffered years of crisis, especially in the ’70s, but has regained strength within the market since 1998, when it was bought by the Volkswagen group. THE LATESTMARKET RESULTS Maserati went from delivering 5,675 cars in 2010 to almost 50,000 in 2017. The following year, though, sales dropped to 34,900. Ferrari passed from 6,573 cars in 2010 to almost 10,000 in 2019; and Lamborghini from 1,302 cars in 2010 to around 8,000 cars in 2019. Aston Martin is now having issues with the number of cars bought, which are constantly diminishing (less than 6,000 units in 2019) and, considering only the last 12 months, the gross operating margin has almost halved. Rolls Royce and Bentley, instead, increased the quantity of cars sold, exceedingly respectively 5,000 and 10,000 units for the year. As a general trend, 2018 was a crucial year because sales dropped by 2.4% in China, the main market for the car industry. This was mainly due to the uncertainties related to the commercial tensions with the USA. Maserati, for instance, highly suffered from this situation. Furthermore, consumers’ preferences changed, as they now prefer purchasing SUV models. Some brands managed to amplify their offer (such as Roll-Royce, that delivered a super-luxury all-terrain SUV), or to make themselves appear more exclusive (such as Ferrari, limiting the number of available cars, and Lamborghini). Others gained popularity after being bought by other groups, like Bentley. A testimony that the car industry is constantly changing according to the customers’ taste and to the exclusivity that only some brands can guarantee. ·