In case you hadn’t noticed, there aren’t enough box fresh supercars and hypercars to go around. Porsche dealers are whacking huge premiums on the GT3, Cayman GTS 4.0 and anything else that anyone really, really wants. Got a hankering for a Ferrari F8 Tributo? Even if you buy two other Ferraris first, as dealers demand, you won’t be first in line. At the tippy top of the market (where the Bugatti W16 Mistral lives), hundreds of mega-wealthy car collectors don’t even get a look-in, and boy are they pissed . . .
The lose-lose nature of this overheated moment is a recurring sentiment. Bruce Canepa, of Canepa Motorsports, is the North American distributor for Gordon Murray Automotive’s debut $3 million T.50 supercar, which sold out its limited production run almost immediately after being unveiled in 2020. “We anticipated there were 100 customers for the T.50, but the reality was that more than 200 people wanted one within the first week it was announced,” he says, calling it “a no-win situation for both sides.”
The Robb Report
Hey! We know that guy! I recently took Mr. Canepa to the woodshed for restomodding the Porsche 959. Given the “overheated moment” caused by the spurt in global wealth, I can almost forgive the ex-racer for making hay while the sun shines. Meanwhile, what’s up with my former boss Ross’ characterization of the situation as “lose – lose”? How is the carmaker losing by making customers fight to give them gigantic sums of money?
That said, Mr. Ross is not wrong about the general tenor of the times. Faced with sky high demand and limited supply, exotic carmakers are picking winners and losers like never before, and there are a lot more losers than winners. “True car collectors” are P.O.’ed at being left on the sidelines, watching new money and vulgar celebrities stealing their place in the super and hypercar pecking order.
Normally, you just need a good track record buying a manufacturer’s products and a bag of cash to score, say, a McLaren Elva. Now that’s not good enough. You have to satisfy ownership criteria created by and for the Ferraris, McLarens and Canapés of the world. Rap artist? Billionaire? Amelia Island Best in Show winner? Maybe. Maybe not.
Carmakers and dealers are keeping their purchasing criteria to themselves, so buyers don’t game the system and, god forbid, buy their car. It’s the same deal as Google’s search engine algorithm: a closely guarded secret that stops “outsiders” from “cheating.”
The basic problem: carmakers at this exalted level see ownership as marketing. However they spin it, they choose owners based on what’s good for the brand’s image. Period. Collectors who subsidized a supercar maker in the lean years – and there were lean years – are SOL if their ownership doesn’t glorify the brand right now.
Should you be one of these shunned buyers, the answer is simple: buy pre-loved exotics and classics. Of course, well-heel car collectors don’t need me to tell them that. But I’m doing it anyway. Because I love Tony Rienzi like a brother and I’m here to tell you that anyone who buys a not-the-new-car-of-the-moment exotic who doesn’t hire Tony is headed for a fall.
If you think that the new supercar and hypercar makers are bastards, people selling vehicles in the used exoticar market are ten times worse. To say they will happily sell you a bill of goods is like saying Mexican politicians are OK with bribes.
Yes, Tony works with some honest dealers and sellers. The emphasis being “some.” But the best way for car collectors looking for off-market cars and actionable auctioned automobiles not to get royally screwed is to hire Rienzi to buy the car for them. A man who a) doesn’t want to royally screw anyone and b) knows exactly how car biz folk royally screw buyers.
As for which cars you should buy – instead of enriching condescending carmakers – buy a vehicle you want to drive. I don’t necessarily mean a daily driver. I mean a car that brings a smile to your face the moment you fire it up or, dare I say it, switch it on.
Pay no attention to other car collectors behind that curtain. Never mind what’s hot or fashionable, or whether or not you have what it takes to win the latest four-wheeled dick measuring contest. Life is too short to let someone else determine what should make you happy. Work with people who love that you love a car, any car, and take more than just profit in providing it.
