When it comes to operating profit per unit sold, it goes without saying that premium car manufacturers are leading the way. Nevertheless, not all of them are doing as great, as one might have expected.
In fact, while some carmakers are making huge profits on every car they sell, others are losing significant amounts of money.
German economics professor Ferdinand Dudenhöffer was curious to find out which luxury car brands lead the way in terms of operating profit per unit sold, and the results of his study may come as a surprise for many.
The absolute leader turns out to be Ferrari, which made an average of €69,000 (about $80,100) for every car it sold in the first half of this year. That’s a lot of money, but let’s no forget Ferraris are some of the most expensive luxury cars money can buy, and most of them feature expensive personalization options that drive the final price (and the maker’s profits) way up.
The second spot belongs to Porsche, which averaged almost €17,000 (approximately $19,750) for each car it sold during the same period. The gap between Ferrari and Porsche is huge, but its products are much more affordable – plus, the Stuttgart-based carmaker can find consolation in the fact that it fared much better than other German brands.
Surprisingly, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz made around €3,000 ($3,500) per new vehicle sold each. Maserati generated an operating profit of less than €5,000 ($5,800) for each car it disposed of and Volvo is said to have made a slightly lower operating profit per unit.
Finally, the carmaker that makes the least money per car sold is Jaguar Land Rover, with just €800 ($929).
The good thing is that the Indian-owned carmaker doesn’t lose money every time it sells a car, something that can’t be said about Tesla and Bentley. The electric car manufacturer lost about €11,000 ($12,800) for each car it handed over to customers in the first half of 2018, while VW-owned Bentley lost around €17,000 ($19,750) per vehicle on average. In both cases, the numbers have been attributed to big investments made by the companies. Mind you, Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini are not included in the study as the two brands did not release sales and profit information.