Duisberg, Germany - Which car company makes the most profit per car? Ferrari is far in the lead according to German economics professor Ferdinand Dudenhöffer.
Dudenhöffer calculated the operating profit, before interest and taxes, made by a number of premium carmakers per vehicle sold in the first half of 2018, which should not be confused with actual ‘profit margin’ as that differs from model to model, region to region and involves many more variables.
Nonetheless, the study saw Ferrari dwarf the rest with an operating profit of 69 000 euro (R1.07 million) per car sold, according to dpa-AFX. This however, also includes money made through its lucrative accessories line and Formula One business.
Porsche comes in a distant second at 17 000 euro (R264 000) per car sold, but the German sportscar and SUV maker is still well ahead of the rest of the field, with Maseratis netting less than 5000 euro (R78 000) and the more mainstream German trio of Audi, BMW and Mercedes all netting in the region of 3000 euro (R46 500).
Jaguar Land Rover seems to be in a spot of trouble, by comparison, with a figure of just 800 euro (R12 500) per vehicle.
However, the most dismal numbers in this study belong to Bentley and Tesla, which made respective losses of 17 000 and 11 000 euro per vehicle, although in both cases that has been attributed to new investments made by the companies.