Posted on

Sun Valley Tour de Force: The Hotels

Sun Valley Tour de Force: The Hotels

Recently we had the privilege of participating in the Sun Valley Tour de Force, in Sun Valley, Idaho.  The SVTdF is a wonderful event which raises money for a great charity, The Hunger Coalition, and helps a large number of people in need.  The SVTdF is in its 6th year and is a three day event which runs Thursday – Saturday, capping off on Saturday with a “No Speed Limit”, closed road, runs followed by a gala dinner and charity auction that night.  We decided to take the three day event and turn it into a weeklong road trip in which we covered just over 2,000 miles in the McLaren 765LT Spider.  The following article is part IV of IV and covers the hotels.  Parts I & III are on the road trips and Part II is on Sun Valley Tour de Force.

By Karen (aka Mrs. SSO)

As AMEX Platinum Card holders, the first place we always go to search for hotels is the AMEX Fine Hotels & Resorts website. The selection of hotel options are always 5*and their benefits are almost as valuable as the hotel rate.  The benefits include early check-in and late check out (a hugely valuable benefit when travelling, especially overseas); room upgrade (if available, they usually are), free WIFI, complimentary Breakfast for two ($75 – $100 value depending on the Hotel), $100 Hotel Credit for Food & Drinks or Parking and a welcome indulgence. So for our trip to Sun Valley’s Tour de Force, that’s exactly what we did for our travel to and from Sun Valley (Denver, where we shipped the car to and Park City where we overnighted to break up the drive to Sun Valley and upon return to Denver). Sun Valley Tour De Force had blocked rooms at the Limelight in Ketchum where the events were taking place, so we reserved with them at the discounted rate and their associated benefits.

Limelight Hotel – Denver

In Denver, among AMEX’s options, we chose the Limelight Hotel at Union Station in downtown Denver.  Our choice was driven by our needs: close to the Airport, close to the McLaren Dealer in Denver, and great shopping nearby.  The Limelight was a perfect choice: there was a free train that stopped directly in front of the Limelight (this was important as we had no suitcases on wheels just 2 very heavy duffle bags so they could fit in the frunk of the McLaren 765LT Spider), a quick Uber to the McLaren Dealer with a Luxury Goods shopping mall on route to drop me off at. The Hotel allowed us to park the McLaren directly in front of the hotel and we could put the cost against the Hotel Credit. The Limelight Hotel and rooms were very much in keeping with the Brand and the local environment.  Our upgrade was to Superior King.  There was a very warm and welcoming feel to the room. The bathroom had a separate WC (we have a pet peeve when it is not separated from the rest of the bathroom), an enclosed huge shower & separate bathtub.  The furniture not only looked in keeping with the hotel’s concept and location, but was also very comfortable. Every amenity you could think of was in the room, including a yoga mat, steamer and an excellent Nespresso Coffee machine with unlimited pods.  The room was very quiet despite other guests occupying rooms around us.

We had dinner at the Bar which served the same menu as their restaurant, Citizen’s Rail. They were very flexible and allowed us to eat in the more casual Bar and cancel our Restaurant reservation. We went during happy hour and enjoyed a delightful meal at no cost as the bill was covered by the balance of the room credit. Service was very attentive. Their Breakfast was excellent regardless of what you ordered, and the bill came in under the allowance.

On our return visit, we were upgraded to a one-bedroom suite.  It was also warm and welcoming. The furniture – different than the Suite, but very much in keeping with the Brand. There was a lovely bottle of red wine and a chacuterie board to welcome us. The front desk was happy to exchange the red wine for a bottle of Prosecco. We decided to order Room Service as it was getting late. It was super-fast and excellent, especially for room service.

Tip to the Limelight Hotel:  Clear the trays in the hallway during the night so they are not still there in the morning when your guests go down for breakfast.

The Limelight Denver gets a Karen 🍾 🍾 🍾 🍾 🍾 rating.

Pendry Hotel – Park City

We decided to stop in Park City, Utah to break up the trip to Sun Valley. Among AMEX hotel options, we chose the Pendry Hotel as it was not far off the Highway and yet in the Ski Resort. It was a very different experience to Denver’s Limelight Hotel.  Yes, they allowed us to park the McLaren at the front door (for $50) but advised against leaving it there (Yes in Park City at a 5* Hotel). We were upgraded to a one-bedroom suite which looked beautiful upon entering, albeit we are not big fans of the cool, grey interior.  We quickly discovered the toilet was in the middle of the bathroom, there was no bathtub, the furniture, while nice to look at but was incredibly uncomfortable.  That evening we realized the air conditioning vent was in the living room leaving us no choice but to leave the bedroom door open, even then, it was uncomfortable warm sleeping.

Dinner was ok but certainly not what I would expect from a 5* hotel.  While there were plenty of staff, the service was terrible. It was as if they had blinders on and getting dishes cleared was a undertaking.  Breakfast was no different.

Upon our return visit, we had a similar experience. They upgraded us to a Suite which was similar to the one-bedroom we stayed in with all the same comments. However, while the air conditioner was in the same room as the bed, the microwave oven had this bright white light that kept waking us up. We tried to cover it and unplug it, but to no avail. Needless to say, the Dinner and Breakfast were no better than our first night at the Pendry.

Tip #1 to the Pendry:  Stay overnight in each of your rooms to experience it as a guest would

Tip #2 to the Pendry:  Train your restaurant and bar staff how to serve.

The Pendry Park City gets a 🍾 🍾 rating

Limelight – Ketchum

The Limelight, Ketchum was an excellent choice by the Organizers of the Tour de Force. It was in the heart of the town and in between the Sun Valley Auto Club where various events took place and the Saw Tooth Mountains where the drives and No Speed Limit took place. The Hotel was very much on Brand and in keeping with the Ski Resort vibe.  While there was no upgrade, I do think we were in the highest class room at the hotel. The room was great:  there was a balcony with two large chairs and a coffee table to enjoy the view of the Mountains surrounding the hotel, a king size comfortable bed, a very functional table / desk with a cozy sofa and chair, kitchenette with a Nespresso coffee machine (and unlimited pods), separated toilet from the rest of the bathroom, and lots of space for a week’s worth of clothes for both of us.

The lobby is a very popular spot for hotel guests and local residents alike. It is multi-purpose bar, restaurant, and meeting place with a huge gas fireplace and lots of seating. However, its popularity is showing its wear and tear (the rooms themselves are great).

The Tour de Force hosted the first breakfast and the Hotel had an excellent complimentary buffet set up for the rest. There was the usual eggs, bacon, potatoes, toast, juices… but also excellent smoked salmon with all the trimmings and toasted bagels.

We did not have lunch or dinners at the hotel except the Tour de Force’s Gala Event on Saturday night.

Tip #1 to the Limelight, Ketchum:  Perhaps time to refurbish the ever so popular lobby which is looking a little tired from all the hotel guests and tons of locals that enjoy it year-round.

The Limelight Ketchum gets a 🍾 🍾 🍾 🍾 rating.

Thoughts and comments? Please see the comments section below.

The sign up for new blog email notifications is at the bottom of the page.

 

Follow us on

Instagram Twitter

Share Now

 

August 2023

 

Recent Posts

Posted on

Anticipation Grows – The SCG 004S

Anticipation Grows – The SCG 004S

It’s been about six months since I last posted an update on the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG) 004s’ development (1st Impressions, the SCG004S). I had just had the chance to visit the new SCG factory in Danbury, Connecticut and see a couple of the 004S development mules.  I was very fortunate to have Jim Glickenhaus provide a personal tour and walk through on the 004S’s development. 

A bit of background on SCG, they have been around as a race car manufacturer and team since 2010.  The big change however came in July 2017 when SCG registered with NHTSA in order to make road-legal cars in the United States.  The SCG 004 is SCG’s second car after the multi-race winning 003.  The SCG 004S/CS is SCGs first production road car and it will met all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.  SCG has aggressive plans for a full range of road and race cars which I touched on in an earlier article “The Ambitious Plans of Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus”.  SCG was on the grid at Le Mans for the first time this year with two SCG 007 in the Hypercar Class.  They finished a highly respectable 4th and 5th, missing the podium by only 2 minutes and 34 seconds.  SCG is offering a completely Le Mans race support package for $6 million, including the car.  SCG has also indicated that they will build 25 road legal 007s if there is sufficient interest.  I hope they do as a road legal 007 would be something awesome to behold.

In Jim’s words:

 

“The SCG004 has been an amazing journey.  Developing and building a fully compliant car that stayed true to its mission of an old school, yet modern sports car, with the soul of its GT3 sister was a complicated journey.  Transferring the modular assembly of the race version to the road version was very important. It allowed a platform that could be easily worked on and quickly improved. Once I began driving various prototypes, I was able to work with our team to change things that would make it exactly what I wanted it to be.  Over 40 years I have driven exotic cars about 1,000,000 miles on the road in many conditions.  Sports Cars are dreams on dream roads but what makes them special is how they react to rain, snow, one-hundred-degree days, bumpy roads and everyday driving.  Developing TC/ESC/ABS that gently helped keep the car safe without obtrusively interfering with its desired character.

Testing, tweaking, and testing again.  Her bones are great. She’s light and nimble. The nearly production finished mule is only 2600 LBS and as sports cars have gotten heavier, she stands out.  Her engine (S) has massive torque and on the road, torque is what you want. Her CS engine will have even more and her aero, which is at the limit of what road legal tires can handle really sticks the car and gives you confidence.  She’s drivable in the snow.  She’s drivable in the rain. Her heat and air conditioner work well and her embedded electrical de-mister wires are a joy with a very curved windshield.  The crash tests are almost done, high speed testing at Nardo in mid-January and finally we’ll begin building customer cars.  It’s been a long, amazing journey and looking out from her center driver’s seat, I really believe our future looks bright.”

The SCG 004S, and the more track focused SCG 004CS, will be the first fully road legal three-seater cars with a center driving position sold in the US. The SCG 004 is built around a carbon fiber tub, with all carbon fiber body panels. The SCG 004S is powered by a supercharged 650 bhp V8 supplied by GM.  The gearboxes in both the 004S and 004CS are supplied by CIMA (CIMA Gearboxes) In the 004S it’s a 6 speed manual with a larger road clutch and in the 004 CS it’s 7 speed paddle shift with an automatic clutch.  SCG believes CIMA gearboxes are the best choice for ultra-high torque applications.  The suspension on both is inboard pushrod.  The SCG 004CS, will also have an extra 200 bhp, center lock wheels and more aggressive aero.

 

SCG is now moving full speed ahead with final development and testing on the 004S.  As soon as the final crash test and the high speed testing is completed at Nardo in Q1 2022, production will be ready to start at the new Danbury factory.  Work on the electronics is almost finished and the Traction Control / ABS is an added bonus that wasn’t originally planned but got added to the development plan to meet full US DOT requirements. Meeting these requirements has been a major eight figure investment for SCG that just serves to show how committed Jim is to make it a success.  From what I understand, our SCG 004S will likely be delivered in Q2 2022. 

While I have yet to drive a SCG 004S, I have sat in one of the development mules.  There is a significant amount of both head and leg room with the fully adjustable Sabelt seat and adjustable steering column.  The central driving position feels near perfect, and visibility is excellent given the large wrap around windshield.  The large metal gated shifter is intuitively placed on the right and slightly forward.  The gearbox action felt firm and has a wonderful metal “clink” when you slot each gear.  All the controls are within easy reach and the dashboard gauges are aesthetically clean and easy to read at a glance.  The cockpit on the road cars is very light and airy with the glass roof.  The amount of room that the two passenger seats have is impressive.  Both passenger seats are mounted just behind the driver’s seat which provides extra leg and shoulder room.  There is room for a medium size duffle bag in-between the two passenger sears. The left side passenger seat can comfortable accommodate an individual up to 6’4” and on the right side on the manual gearbox versions, it’s a bit more modest by still ample.  Either side is far more comfortable than the back seats in any 2+2 I have ever sat in.  The attention to detail, even on the development mules, was very impressive.

I have heard that customer test drives will be available starting in early 2022.  I will definitely try to set one up.  A few journalists have driven the SCG 004S and reviews are starting to appear online and in different publications.  To date the reviews have been quite positive with one journalist commenting that the steering, handling, and gearbox were as good as any car he had ever driven.  I would call this highly complementary given he was driving a development mule.  Octane Magazine has a review coming out in their Jan. 2022 edition.

What has been totally different to any other car I have ever ordered is the amount of transparency Jim & Jesse Glickenhaus provide on all the other cars SCG is developing and the racing programs.  The Glickenhaus’ regularly post updates to a private message feed, on Twitter, and on Instagram.  As a “Founder” I do get information well before its public release which makes you feel like you are very much part of the development process.  It’s been a very unique experience.  The net result is that I feel much more part of the company than simply being a customer.  I can’t wait to sit down and spec our SCG 004S in early 2022.

Thoughts and comments? Please see the comments section below.

The sign up for new blog email notifications is at the bottom of the page.

 

Follow us on

Instagram Twitter

Share Now

 

December 2021

 

Recent Posts

Posted on

Ferrari F40: Looking Back on the Last 15 Years

Ferrari F40: Looking Back on the Last 15 Years

We have owned our Ferrari F40 for just over 15 years now.  This is twice as long as I have ever owned any other car.  In those 15 years, I’ve driven it 30,000 miles across 11 different countries.  The F40 has had one major engine rebuild, two new clutches, and one new set of fuel cells.  Our various adventures over the years are well documented both on Karenable and in a few issues of EVO Magazine.  I’ve taken the F40 on the track in several different countries and have run it flat out down the autobahn.   The longest single day drive I have done in it was Nice to Madrid in a bit under 9 hours.  The F40 has been driven across the Swiss Alps and up a goat path in Wales.  Needless to say, our F40 has led a full life in the last 15 years and is about as far from being a garage queen as you can get.

How we ended up with the F40 is a bit of a convoluted story.  It started with a test drive of a Dino 246 GT in the countryside outside of Brussels.  While the test drive was far from a success the conversation back in the garage turned out to be most fortuitous.  In the barn where the Dino was kept there were also two F40s.  After we established that the Dino 246 GT wasn’t going work due to both my longish legs and a missing 2nd gear, the conversation shifted quickly to the two imposing F40s.  It was the 1st time I had ever seen a pair up close, and the highly knowledgeable broker took me through both cars and pointed out the differences as one was a very early production sliding plexi window F40, and the other a late cat & adjustable suspension F40.  Neither of the F40s was for sale at the time and the brokers parting words were if you are interested in an F40, I would act quickly as prices are about to start rising again.  Wise words.

 

Roll forward a few months and the search for a F40 was on.  At that point, I hadn’t settled completely on the F40, a 288 GTO was also under consideration.  Back then, the 288 GTO was the less valuable of the two cars.  As values hadn’t gone through the roof yet, dealers would still let you take them out on test drives.  It was after test driving a couple of 288 GTOs and F40s that the decision was made to pursue and F40.  While the 288 GTO is a very special car, the F40 was the better driver’s car and more of an experience.  As special as the 288 GTO is, it does feel a bit like a 328 GTB on steroids.  The F40 on the other hand will never be mistaken for anything else. 

After looking at a number of different F40s, the one I finally settled on was a very late production, two owner car that had been originally delivered in Rome.  The second owner had the car in Germany and I bought it from Eberlein Ferrari in Kassel.  The negotiations on the car took several months and were an exercise in patience.  We finally agreed the deal which included part exchanging my Ferrari 550 Maranello.  The 550 was in Portugal at the time and the plan was to drive it from Lisbon to Kassel, swap it for the F40, and then drive the F40 to Madrid where I had an apartment at the time.  The story of that trip is: 1st Four Days in the F40.

 

After that very memorable 1st trip, we have had a wonderful succession of different experiences with the F40 over the years.  A few of the more memorable ones are captured in a few articles posted on karenable including: Return to Maranello with 40 other F40s, Epic Drive Across France, and Across the Alps to Tuscany.  Some of the highlights from those trips include being on the track at Mugello with several dozen other F40s, having the Italian police clear traffic for us on the Autostrade, crossing the Alps with temperatures still below freezing in late June, and hustling the F40 down stunning D roads in southern France.  There have been numerous other road trips in Spain, Germany, Portugal, France and the UK.  The F40 has navigated narrow Welsh B roads, been driven across the moors of Devon, and been driven up a glorified goat path in the Brecon Beacons.  It’s also been run across a number of Alpine passes which still rates as some of the most challenging and exhilarating driving I have done in the car. The F40 also featured in one of EVO Magazines more memorable articles when Henry Catchpole and Dean Smith drove it back to the UK from Switzerland for me. 

I have also tried to memorialize what the F40 is like to own and drive.  One of the more memorable recent drives was a back to back session with the McLaren 675LT Spider which served as the basis for this blog: Joy of Driving.  Even after 15 years, every drive in the F40 is still special and an event.  It’s equally as fun to push down a back country road as it is to flog around a racetrack.  The F40 is a car that demands a lot from the driver and rewards you by continuing to make you a better driver.

 

In terms of ownership, overall, it’s been fairly reasonable to own.  When we lived in the UK, we were very fortunate to have a great relationship and service from Carrs Ferrari (Great Dealerships).  Post the UK, it’s been a bit more of challenge first with a horrible experience with Boardwalk Ferrari in Dallas (F40 1st US Service), but we have found a great classic Ferrari mechanic in New England at IFS (Independent Ferrari Service).  He has over 43 years of experience servicing all types of Ferraris and lots of time working on F40s. IFS did the engine rebuild (Rebuilding the F40) and the F40 has been running beautifully ever since.  In fact, it just came back from its one year checkup where it was given a clean bill of health. 

While I doubt I will track the F40 again, road trips will certain continue to be a major part of the F40s life.  I can no more imagine parting with it than I can selling off any family heirlooms.  The plan is to drive it until I physically can’t and then see if one of the kids wants the car.

Thoughts and comments? Please see the comments section below.

The sign up for new blog email notifications is at the bottom of the page.

 

Follow us on

Instagram Twitter

Share Now

 

December 2021

 

Recent Posts

Posted on

Continuing Saga of Aston Martin: CFO Jumps Ship

Continuing Saga of Aston Martin: CFO Jumps Ship

I wasn’t originally planning on writing another article on Aston Martin until they released their full year 2021 results in Feb 2022 but two things this week changed that plan.  First off, the CFO Kenneth Gregor, resigned, secondly, Business F1 published an article in their December edition stating that it is now unlikely that Aston Martin will deliver any Valkyries before the end of the year.  Neither of these bode well for Aston Martin and I have to believe that they are at least partially linked.  There are two executives in any company that have a complete picture of the health of the business.  They are the CEO & CFO.  Hence why these two tend to be on every quarterly earnings call.   In Aston Martin’s case, one of these two just decided to jump ship.  Since Aston Martin Lagonda (AML) reported their Q3 earnings on November 4th, AML stock has dropped 24% and is 40% off its 52 week high. (for the record: I do not currently own, have never owned, and have no intention of ever owning shares in AML).

Starting with the announcement on Kenneth Gregor’s departure, the usually boisterous Aston Martin PR department buried it on the Regulatory News tab of the AML Investors web page which is quite telling (as a reference, in November Aston Martin issued a Press Release to announce the hiring of a new President for the Americas):

 

Chief Financial Officer to step down for personal reasons

02 DEC 2021, 07:00           Directorate Change

 

The Board of Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc announces that for personal reasons Kenneth Gregor will step down as Chief Financial Officer and as an Executive Director of the company no later than 30 June 2022. As a result, the Board has initiated a process to appoint a new Chief Financial Officer and will provide an update once that has concluded.

 

Lawrence Stroll, Executive Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda, said: “Over the last 18 months Ken has played a significant role in rebuilding Aston Martin Lagonda’s financial position and setting the business on a strong pathway for the future. Whilst sad to see him leave the business, I understand Ken’s reasons and wish him the very best for the future.”

 

Tobias Moers, Chief Executive Officer of Aston Martin Lagonda, said: “Ken will leave Aston Martin as a friend and we wish him all the best moving forward. Our sincerest thanks for his tireless efforts as Chief Financial Officer and the contribution he has made to our leadership team. I look forward to working closely with him over the coming months until a successor is appointed.”

 

Ken Gregor, Chief Financial Officer of Aston Martin Lagonda, said: “I am proud of what I have achieved in my time at Aston Martin Lagonda. It has been an honour to play my part in shaping the company’s future direction, helping to establish a clear roadmap to profitability and financial sustainability.”

 

In accordance with its statutory obligations, the company will disclose details of Mr. Gregor’s exit arrangements on its website and in the directors’ remuneration report in due course.

 

The following is from the Aston Martin Press Release issued in June 2020 to announce Ken Gregor’s hiring:

 

Ken, 53, will be appointed to the Board as an Executive Director today, 22 June. Ken will report to the Executive Chairman, Lawrence Stroll, and to the Chief Executive Officer, Tobias Moers, once Mr. Moers joins the Company on 1 August.

 

Ken has over 20 years of automotive experience, most recently as Chief Financial Officer of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) for 11 years from 2008. Under his leadership, the finance group developed as a strong business partner to support the delivery of shareholder value and the company’s growth ambitions. Prior to his appointment as CFO, Ken held a number of roles within JLR from 1997 including Group Financial Controller and financial control roles within Marketing, Sales and Service and Product Development.

 

In summary, Ken Gregor is a highly experienced automotive CFO.  He successfully navigated major corporate transformations at Jaguar Land Rover in his 11 years as JLR CFO before joining AML in June 2020.  Given Gregor’s resume, core competency and ability to do the job are a given.  Gregor was most likely hired on an initial 2 year contract which is why his exit date in the AML regulatory filing is listed as no later than June 30, 2022.  Gregor is most likely no longer involved in AML and the statement that he is leaving for “personal reasons” could be read as “massive disagreement and I do not want to be associated with what is going on”.  For a CFO to leave in the middle of a corporate transformation, shortly after the company announced poor quarterly results and with it a stretch to hit their current 2021 guidance, is anything but a positive sign. 

In my experience, in these types of situations where a highly experienced CFO suddenly leaves a struggling business that is supposed to be in the middle of a multiyear turnaround, its likely due to one of the following reasons:

 

  • – The CFO is being pressured to report numbers that he/she is not comfortable with (Aston reported that it has £495 mil. of cash on the Balance Sheet as of end Q3 2021, unlike Ferrari though, Aston does not report total liquidity which is the number I would really be interested in seeing)
  •  
  • – The “turnaround” is not on track and the CFO does not want to be around when the financial “turd” hits the “fan” which in this case would be reporting the full year 2021 results
  •  
  • – Personality conflict, which given who the AML CEO and Executive Chairman are, certainly could be an option.

 

Which could well have been a “final straw” after a year of potential growing unease around:

 

 

  • – Nebula & Supernatural Lawsuits
  •  
  • – AML & AMR relationship
  •  
  • – Aston’s treatment and use of Customer Deposits

 

More details on the Nebula Lawsuit and the AML AMR relationship are covered in:  Aston Martin’s 1st Half .  AML is now caught up in the Supernatural – Multimatic dispute and there is a very strong chance more unflattering information comes out in court as Supernatural has been involved with both the Valkyrie & DB5 Bond cars.  On the Customer Deposits, I have had feedback from several potential Valkyrie customers that when they requested that their deposits be held in escrow, Aston Martin flat out refused.

Working through the potential reasons for Gregor’s untimely departure, while it might have been prompted by hearing the theme song from the Titanic on the radio while driving to work and personality conflicts could be a contributing factor, its highly unlikely either is a key driver for Gregor to announce his exit now.  If it was just personalities, its far more likely Gregor would simply complete his contract and depart quietly in June 2022 with a successor already lined up.  A sudden and untimely departure announcement in early December points towards it being much more likely the outcome of a major disagreement.  Of the two other potential reasons listed above, my guess is the reason sits somewhere in between them both which would be a final straw.  Going back to the Q3 earnings call, in answer to the following question:

 

Henning Cosman (HSBC): Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my question. Sorry, the first one I wanted to come back to is the implied guidance for Q4. If I take your investor relations consensus of full-year adjusted EBITDA of £150, that implies £78 for Q4, adjusted for the legal cost. So, I was just wondering if you could help us, again, to sort of, reconcile that. I understand that you said you want to sell double-digit units, Valkyrie, but for the Valkyrie, for this to be attributable to Valkyrie alone it would have to be almost £2 million EBITDA per unit, so that seems a bit steep. So, I hope you could, you know, help us a little bit understand the other moving parts and, again, why your confidence in achieving the guidance is so high.

 

Gregor replied:

 

Kenneth Gregor: And on the full year, there’s a number of pieces that come together to support the Q4 delivery. Yes, you’ve got Valkyrie and, yes, that’s really important, as we’ve pointed out in our guidance, and there’s a range of how we see the number of units of Valkyrie and the track Pro car that Tobias talked about earlier, in terms of what we can see in Q4. And, yes, those do have a very high unit contribution, ranging towards the figure you saw. There’s a range of different contributions, depending on the model and how they’ve been specified, and the options contribution coming. So, they are very high contribution per unit and the full-year result is very sensitive to the number of units that get produced.

 

To summarize the above exchange, for AML to meet the Q4 and full year EBITDA targets, they need to deliver a double digit number of Valkyries in Q4.

Which brings us to the Dec 2021 Business F1 article (Business F1 Magazine) stating that it is now unlikely that Aston Martin will deliver any Valkyries before the end of the year.  Per Gregor’s comments on the earning call, if the “double digit” number of Valkyrie coupe road cars and “single digit” number of the track only AMRs that Moers’ promised on the Q3 call would be delivered in Q4 don’t happen, Aston Martin will very likely miss the full year adjusted EBITDA goal of £150 mil. quite badly.  In the Business F1 article it states that Aston Martin is blaming Multimatic (which is doing most of the Valkyrie’s assembly) for delays and quality problems with the Valkyries.  Business F1 has been spot on with its Aston Martin reporting in the past so I have no reason to believe this isn’t the case.  In addition, it is all very consistent with all the past information that’s been leaking out about issues with the Valkyrie all year.  If you project the current Valkyrie issues into 2022 and link it to what’s known about Valkyrie tooling and production capacity (for more details: Analysis of Aston Martin’s Q3), they will be lucky to produce even 1/3rd of the 3 Valkyries per week in 2022 that Moers was calling for in the Q3 call.  This will leave another massive hole in the P&L.

 

Just to top it all off, from a personal financial perspective, the decline in Aston Martin’s stock price in the last month has also very likely made sticking around a lot less lucrative for Gregor than it would have been earlier this year.  The AML stock price is now at the same level it was at when Gregor would have signed on.  As a very significant part of his compensation would have been tied to increases in the stock price, that financial incentive has now gone the way of the Aston Martin Submarine.  Much better to get out now with at least your reputation intact, then stick around for a payday that’s now highly unlikely to happen.

 

Summary

The CFO suddenly resigning is almost never good news for a company.  A CFO suddenly leaving a business that’s highly challenged, just reported weak results, and had a magazine article come out that raises significant question on if the company will make its full year EBITDA goal is just plain ugly.  How this plays out for Aston Martin we will see in the next couple of months but it just another indication that the business is continuing to struggle mightily.  Gregor is also just the latest and most high profile individual to leave Aston Martin after a short tenure.  His departure is likely do to a combination of unease, disagreement on direction, and where the numbers are heading. In addition, given where the share price is today, he likely has little incentive to stay.   It seems that a lot of talent Aston Martin was able to recruit in the last several years has left in 2021.

 

Thoughts and comments? Please see the comments section below.

The sign up for new blog email notifications is at the bottom of the page.

 

Follow us on

Instagram Twitter

Share Now

 

December 2021

 

Recent Posts