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Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG) 004 Update

Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG) 004 Update

On the morning of January 9, 2024, Scuderia Glickenhaus CEO Jesse Glickenhaus drove a SCG 004CS from Connecticut to Montreal.  Jesse left Connecticut at 3:30AM in the morning and drove the 330 miles straight through to the PMG labs outside of Montreal. Doing this in the middle of winter, in a prototype, is a great demonstration of confidence in the car SCG is building.  The 004CS was dropped off at PMG for its final set of non-destructive Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards Tests. This is a huge milestone in the SCG 004’s development as it signals that they are just about ready to begin production of the first customer (Founders) cars.

Background

 

Following a similar philosophy to Ferrari in the early days, Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus is a racing team that both designs and builds their own race cars.  SCG then adapts these race cars for the road and sells them to customers to help fund its racing activities.  In only its 2nd try, in June 2022, the SCG 007 finished on the podium at Le Mans. In 2023, in a much larger and more highly competitive Hypercar class, the SCG 007 came in 6th & 7th (ahead of both Peugeot and Porsche).  To say this is an impressive achievement is a huge understatement.  In late 2023, Glickenhaus announced they would not be returning to the World Endurance Championship/Le Mans in 2024.  The decision was based on the fact that having established their racing credentials, it no longer made sense for SCG to compete in WEC as the priority for the company was now shifting to focus on making road-going vehicles, including the 004 sportscar based on its Nurburgring 24 Hours racer.

Development Update

In terms of the SCG 004, they have developed two versions for the road, the base 004S (004S Test Drive Report) and the more track oriented 004CS.  The SCG 004 has now passed all the most challenging US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards required including front, rear, side, and roof crush tests, as well as fuel roll over tests. It is is the first modern car to pass some of these mandated FMVSS crash tests such as the side movable deformable barrier test without airbags, which speaks volumes in terms of the design, engineering, and quality of the carbon fiber tub.  The SCG 004S will be the first 3 seater, central driving position, fully homologated, supercar sold in the US market.

With SCG’s focus now on building the SCG 004 road cars, there has been a plethora of activity in the last several months.  SCG is now working with Roush in Detroit for this validation program, leveraging Roush’s experience running validation for major manufacturers. There are now three prototypes undergoing various validation tests including a recently completed track durability test in Texas along with heat & fuel testing in Arizona.  An SCG 004S is also undergoing road load data testing in Michigan where it has been spotted numerous times running about on special data collection hubs.  Once the load data collection process is complete, this prototype will go on the shake rig where it will be subjected to 100k miles of driving forces. SCG is taking lessons learned during this validation to further improve the engineering. During a 24 hour hot wind tunnel test SCG ran the car through repeated wide open throttle (WOT) events, as well as city driving cycles with ambient temperatures ranging from 100-110 degrees F. SCG is using the data and lessons from this test to improve the cooling in the engine bay, and will conduct two additional wind tunnel tests in February and March to confirm the increased cooling solves these worst case scenario driving condition concerns. During the Arizona hot weather refueling there were certain conditions and gas stations where the fuel tank did not want to fill at full speed. SCG is working with Roush on modifications to the fuel system lines and internal tank to solve this problem. After 6 weeks of engineering improvements, SCG and Roush will re-test the fuel tank design to make sure it is safer and fills better than the current design. Other recent developments include upgrades to the interior with a focus on delivering “old school” elegance.  SCG switched from a high quality Italian leather supplier to the Italian supplier for most of the world’s most elegant luxurious cars.

As SCG finishes up the remaining FMVSS testing (ie windshield wiper testing, windshield defrosting), it is going through the process of answering the question, “When are we ready to begin production for customer vehicles.” The process of answering this question will be the subject of an upcoming next Question & Answer session with the Glickenhaus Team.

Once SCG answers this question, it will be moving into production for the Founders cars, with an eye to continue additional production of the SCG 004s in 2025. 

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January 2024

 

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SuperSuvs: Should & Will McLaren Join the Fray?

SuperSuvs: Should & Will McLaren Join the Fray?

I’ve been hearing rumblings for a while now that McLaren is seriously considering launching an SUV.  How much of this is projection given the fact that basically every other sports and supercar manufacturer has now done so is hard to tell. The arrival of McLaren’s new CEO, Michael Leiters, who has a chronic case of SUVitis, having been deeply involved in the development of both the Porsche Cayenne and Ferrari Purosangue, is also feeding this fire.  I have consulted with a few medical professionals and all have advised that there is no known cure for SUVitis, it is at best a condition that can be managed.  With that in mind, the two questions that come to mind are:

 

  • Have SUV’s been the goose that laid the golden egg for those who have gone before?
  •  
  • If McLaren does launch an SUV what should its essence be?

The Golden Goose

Porsche created the “Sport” SUV segment with the launch of the Cayenne back in 2003.  The Cayenne both saved Porsche and transformed the company into a SUV manufacturer with a decent size sports car business on the side.  In 2022, Porsche delivered 182,328 SUVs and 58,613 Sports cars.  Without first the Cayenne and later the smaller Macan SUV, it’s unlikely we would have the 918, and last several series of GT2s, GT3s, and RSs.  Without a doubt, the Cayenne (and now Macan) is Porsche’s “Goose that lays the Golden Eggs”. Porsche’s SUV success has led to just about everyone else jumping into the SUV market.  Having now owned two Cayennes, a Turbo and a “S”.  They really are great, well built, highly reliable cars.  The Turbo is terrifc and something that big and heavy shouldn’t be able to take corners the way it does.  With the “S”, you get all of the Turbos gas guzzling capabilities without the performance.

A Goose & A Chicken

While the SUV has been a huge success for Porsche, it’s more of a mixed bag for VW’s Lamborghini & Bentley. When I looked at the numbers, the picture for the Lamboghini Urus & Bentley Bentayga, it isn’t exactly clear cut.  For Bentley, it mostly looks like they cannibalized sales from other models whereas Lamborghini’s SUV sales look to be almost entirely incremental.  One other fact, VW builds the Bentayga and Urus off of the same platform used for the Audi Q7 so the added development cost & complexity on the manufacturing side is fairly minimal.

 

A Goose

The Lamborghini numbers tell a bit of a different and much rosier story.  To give you an idea of the importance of Lamborghini in the VW Group, while even Seat and Skoda’s financial results are broken out, Lamborghini’s are just lumped in with Bentley’s. In 2016, the last year prior to the Lamborghini Urus SUV launch, VW Group sold 3,579 Lamborghinis.  In 2022, 9,233 Lamborghinis were sold.  Of the 9,233 Lambos, 5,367 were Urus’ which would indicate that the Urus has brough new buyers into the Lamborghini brand and the volume was clearly fully incremental. The added volume would certainly have been a welcomed by the dealer network and taken Lamborghini from a borderline brand to relevant and more supportable.  When looking at shorter term sales trends though, it seems that Urus sales have now flattened and will likely remain in the 5,000-5,500 units per annum range going forward.  Lamborghini now has a situation where 60% of their sales are SUVs and how this will change brand perception in the medium to long term is major question mark.  For VW, turning Lamborghini into a SUV brand is probably not a major concern as long as that moves more units.  Should VW decide to spin Lamborghini back off, it is a total different issue unless the new owner can execute a similar platform sharing arrangement similar to the Audi Q7, Bentayga, and Urus.

 

A Chicken

Bentley is an interesting case to look at as the Bentayga is considered a success.  In 2014, the last year pre the Bentley Bentayga SUV launch, VW sold 11,033 Bentleys. In 2022 VW sold 15,174 Bentleys of which 6,373 were Bentaygas.  That’s a 4.4% CAGR in terms of total units.  It is not exactly impressive and hardly a major success.  Net net, while total Bentley sales have grown, the vast majority of the Bentayga sales came from cannibalizing other Bentley models and this trend seems to have stabilized as the Bentayga’s CAGR from 2019-2022 is 6.8% which is nearly exactly in line with the 6.9% CAGR on total Bentley sales over the same period.  I did do a review on the Bentayga a few years back: 36 Hours with the Bentayga of which the most memorable comment on it came from Mrs. SSO who described it as driving around in a Channel handbag.

The Platypus

The Maserati Levante was launched in 2016.  That year Maserati sold 42k cars.  In 2021 (2022 results are not yet available) Maserati sold 24k cars.  Having driven an early Levante, the results are not surprising.  It felt like the Cayenne’s poor cousin and the interior came across as if it was assembled out of a Fiat parts bin.  The Levante certainly has not done much for Maserati.

 

The Messiah…..not really

The Aston Martin DBX SUV was supposed to be the car that saved Aston Martin.  Call it the second coming of the Cayenne, just this time with a British accent and a whiff of James Bond.  In its second year post launch, the DBX SUV, which was supposed to be AML’s savior, sales are down 16% through Q3 2022.  Its crystal clear at this point that the big bet on the DBX hasn’t worked.  Looking at the DBX sales in a bit more depth, in 2021 Aston Martin wholesaled 3,001 DBXs.  This is half of the original target of 6,000 units.  On February 1, 2022, Aston Martin announced a new more powerful version of the DBX, the DBX707 in an attempt to create renewed excitement around its floundering SUV.  The jury is still out on whether the DBX707 will turn around AML’s SUV fortunes.

 

Everything We Touch Turns to Gold

The Ferrari Purosangue SUV was officially launched in 2022 with shipments starting in 2023.  It is already sold out for the next several years.  The funny thing is Ferrari spent years denying they would ever launch an SUV.  The former CEO, Louis Camilleri, stated that he hated the word SUV and that it did not belong in the same sentence with Ferrari. Other Ferrari executives have stated that a SUV is not part of Ferrari’s DNA and that Enzo would roll over in his grave if it were to happen.  Yet here we are and the Purosangue is a huge success, even before the first car is delivered.

 

Ferrari has been quite clever in the design of the Purosangue.  It appears to be a two door while actually having four (the two rear doors are “suicide” doors that are rear hinged).  This also gives it a sleeker sportier appearance and it looks basically like a Ferrari GTC4 that’s been dabbling with steroids.  Also quite clever, Ferrari is capping production of the Purosangue at no more than 20% of total Ferrari production which puts it in the 2,000-3,000 range over the next half decade.  This effectively kills the risk of the Purosangue becoming the car that defines Ferrari the way the Urus has for Lamborghini.

 

McLaren & the SUV

Given McLaren’s new CEO’s history with both the Porsche Cayenne and Ferrari Purosangue, it is inevitable that the SUV discussion would be rumored to making the rounds of Woking’s hallways again.  McLaren Racing getting into Extreme E, which is an all-electric off-road series, was a not exactly subtle hint at ideas being played around with.  Assuming that a McLaren SUV is inevitable, question is what it should be and what can be learned from other manufacturers’ success and failures.  

 

Putting the Ferrari Purosangue aside because to be honest, given how strong the Ferrari brand is, you could put a Prancing Horse badge on the nose of a Dacia Sandero and it would sell out for the next three years. Also for Ferrari, this isnt about driving volumes, it just trading up the former GT 2+2 customers into a higher margin, more profitable new car.  If you look at the Bentayga and DBX, two SUVs that have had some moderate success but basically just cannibalized other models within the same brand, the outcome is not surprising.  In both cases the SUVs were designed to mimic the brands Grand Tourer experience just in a bigger, taller, platform.  Effectively they didn’t bring anything new to the table which would have attracted considerable numbers of new customers to the brand.  The Bentayga and DBX just give you the same Bentley or Aston Martin experience, just from an extra several inches off the ground.  The key to the Cayennes’ success, first of all Porsche effectively invented the Sport SUV, second, the Cayenne isn’t a 911 in SUV clothing, it’s a completely different car and doesn’t try to be a 911.  Hence it expanded the Porsche market considerable.  The same principles hold for the Lamborghini Urus.  Not much to learn from the Maserati Levante other than uninspired engineering and part bin raiding don’t normally lead to an inspired outcome.

 

Based on the above, if a McLaren SUV is going to be a success, it has to bring something new and different to the market.  The challenge in this is in doing so, it also has to stay honest to McLaren’s racing ethos.  If the McLaren MX Extreme E off road race car is the direction they are thinking of heading, then there is a good change they get it right.  If the approach taken is turning a McLaren GT into a SUV, it will not go about as well as the DBX has for Aston Martin.  In the same way you can take a McLaren 765LT to the track and run circles just about everything else out there, a McLaren SUV should be able to run the Dakar Rally or the Baja 500 with just minor modifications.  Probably the company I’ve seen that has done this best is Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus with the Boot (SCG Boot).  The Boot is also the only SUV I have ever had Mrs. SSO tell me that we should get one. 

 

In summary, while I am personally not a big fan of SuperSUVs, I have accepted that they are definitely here to stay.  Most sports and supercar companies have entered the market but only a few have gotten it right.  One of the few who hasn’t yet is McLaren but they probably will shortly.  I hope they learn from other’s mistakes and if they can stay turn to their racing heritage, they might just get it right.

 

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February 2023

 

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The Cost of Mileage & Supercar Good Buys 2023

The Cost of Mileage & Supercar Good Buys 2023

The following are two short pieces.  The first one on the “Cost of Mileage” actually came out of research I was doing for the second on “Supercar Good Buys”.  

Cost of Mileage

I’ve been following the Ferrari F12 market quite closely for about a year now, just patiently waiting for the right car to fall into my budget.  When checking the Ferrari US site today, two similar spec F12s popped up right next to each other.  Both were 2015 models, Rosso, well spec’ed, with clean Carfax reports.  The first had an asking price of $315k and the second $209K.  Why the $106k spread?  The 41,902 difference in the mileage on the odometer.  Each of those extra 41,902 miles devalued that F12 by $2.53.  Do Ferraris essentially become worthless once they hit 125k on the odometer?  At that devaluation rate, if you drove it another 83k miles would Ferrari give you a refund?  It’s not just the F12 that this applies to, I have found examples of the 488, 812, and Portofino that have very similar price mileage relationships.

Is this rational? Not if you look at other similar sports and supercar brands.  Take the Porsche 911 GT3 RS as an example, I found two 2016 GT3 RS’s on the Porsche US site with similar mileage to the pair of F12s.  First had 49,850 miles on the odometer with an asking price of $196k.  The second 2,245 miles with an asking of $220k.  Some quick math gives you a Porsche devaluation rate of $0.50 a mile.  Using the 2015 McLaren 650S Spider as a second benchmark, looking again at two similar car s, car #1 has an ask of $150k and 38,272 miles on the odometer and car #2 is an ask of $180k at 1,621 miles.  While not quite as good a bargain as the Porsche 991 GT3 RS, the McLaren 650S Spider still has an easily Ferrari beating devalue rate of $0.83 per mile between the two examples.  As a final point of reference, I pulled up a couple of examples of the 2015 Aston Martin Vanquish, as it was a direct competitor to the Ferrari F12.  The first 2015 Vanquish coupe has an ask of $120k and 31,489 miles on the odometer, the second has an ask of $170k with 1,856 miles on it.  While not quite as eye watering as the F12, the devalue rate between these two Aston Martin Vanquish’s is still a wallet draining $1.69 per mile. 

 

The irony here is Ferraris are better built today then they ever have been. Reliability and build quality are light years ahead of where they were 20 years ago.  That big V12 in the nose of a F12 should be good for at least 200k miles before needing to be rebuilt.  If you are gentle with the brakes, the ceramic rotors should last at least 100k miles.  The dual clutch transmission should last the life of the vehicle.  Given these facts does a $100k hit on a F12s valuation for driving 40k miles make any since?  It does if you think of the F12 as a piece of art needing to be preserved in its original form with every mile driven degrading that piece of art just a little bit more.  The interesting thing though is that doesn’t actually hold for vintage Ferraris.  If you look at values of the F12’s great great grandfather, the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona, mileage is completely irrelevant to values.  Its condition that matters.  So, buy it, drive it, and if you keep it long enough, all those miles you have enjoyed will not have devalued the Ferrari a single $.  And that is a much better bet than expecting a refund from Ferrari.

Supercar Good Buys 2023

Coming out of last week’s article on the current state of the Supercar Market, I have received a few questions about what might be good buys in 2023 (Supercar Market Update Jan 2023).  “Good buys” I define as supercars that offer enormous value at today’s prices.  Its slightly different from what I would call a bargain which is more dependent on the current values vs. where values are likely to be longer term.  A “Good Buy” might be a bargain or just really good value for what it is.  While it is always difficult to predict what’s going to happen in the coming months, the following are a few that I believe could be good buys including a several on my potential acquisition list. 

 

Ferrari F12 Berlinetta

The Ferrari F12 has been high up on the “want” list for quite some time now.  So long in fact that I even have the “Use Case” all figured out (see: Use Case Rule ) and Mrs. SSO approved.  I have been following the Ferrari F12 market fairly closely for about a year now and it finally seems to be headed in my direction (i.e down).   While filling the V12 GT hole in the garage with a Prancing Horse has been high on my list, I am not in a rush and refuse to pay a premium for a model that has traditionally been the depreciation champion of the Ferrari line up.  I would not be surprised to see another $30k drop in F12 prices in the next 12 months which would then make the last Pininfarina designed Ferrari V12 GT a great buy and the whole “Cost of Mileage” thing irrelevant as I would just hold it for the next 30 years.

 

Aston Martin DBS (2008-2012)

With the 2008 DBS, all production moved to Gaydon and the same VH platform that the DB9 utilized was adopted.  Unlike the Vanquish, a six-speed manual was standard with the automatic six-speed ‘Touchtronic 2’ gearbox as an option. Both coupe and convertible (Volante) versions were sold during the production run. Today automatic Volante’s and automatic Coupes sit at the bottom of the DBS food chain with both starting at around $80k.  Manuals tend to bring a $40-60k premium over the automatic versions.  What is interesting is Volante’s don’t seem to command any premium over the Coupes.  DBS’s have enjoyed a bit of a run up in values over the last several years and I would expect they will retreat to pre-Covid valuations in the coming years with the floor being around $70k.  For less than half the price today vs. its contemporary, the  Ferrari 599 GTB, the DBS a huge amount of car for the money.

 

Ferrari F430

The Ferrari F430 was the last of the line of mid-engine V8 Ferraris that ran for over 10 years starting with the 360 Modena in 1999.  The 360 Modena was the first Ferrari to use an all-aluminum space-frame chassis and was powered by a new 3.6 liter flat-plane crankshaft V8 engine producing 395 bhp.  With the 360 Modena, build quality was dramatically improved and cambelt changes were no longer a costly engine out exercise.  However, the 360 Modena did have its share of issues and the F430, which replaced it, was a significantly improved car.

 

Today you can pick up a F430 Coupe with a F1 transmission for just under $100k with Spiders commanding an additional 15-20% premium.  The rarer manual F430s (about 10% of F430s were produced with 6 speed manual transmissions) command a fairly absurd 2x premium.  Having driven both manual and F1 F430’s,  it’s the F1 transmission that suits the car best, unlike the 360 where the manual is the better of the two options.  Unlike both of its predecessor, the Ferrari F355 and 360 Modena, values on F430s basically haven’t moved in the last couple of years which makes them the bargain of the Ferrari world right now.  Ferrari produced around 15,000 F430s so there are always plenty on the market.  The high production numbers have also served to hold down values.

Ferrari 612 Scaglietti

If the 360 Modena was the first of a new generation of Ferrari V8s, the 612 Scaglietti played the same role on the V12 GT side of the Ferrari business.  Back in 2004, the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti was the first Ferrari GT to be built on an aluminum chassis and was powered by a 5.7 liter V12 engine producing 533 bhp, 30 bhp more than the Ferrari F50.

 

In today’s market $100k will land you a nice 612 Scaglietti although most dealers have asking prices a bit higher.  The rare manual 612’s do command huge premiums but the F1 gearbox suits the GT nature of the 612 better.  The original list price on a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti was just north of $310k, before any of the multiple option boxes were ticked. Most 612s are highly spec’ed cars so you can add at least another $30-40k on top of the base price.  Despite being a Grand Tourer and designed to eat up huge number of miles effortlessly, most 612’s have seen fairly moderate amounts of use and there are plenty around with under 25k miles on the odometer.  If you are looking for a supercar that can haul 4 people in relative comfort over vast distances, the 612 Scaglietti has to be the best value on today’s market.

 

We did own a beautiful Nart Blue 612 Scaglietti a few years ago.  It was a terrific car that did what it was designed for brilliantly. 

 

McLaren 12C

The McLaren 12C was McLaren Automotive’s first production car when it was launched in 2011.  The 12C was built on a carbon fiber tub and is powered by a 3.8 L twin-turbo 616 bph V8 engine.  Performance at launch was best in class.  The 12C can do 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds and top speed is well over 200 mph. 

 

Early 12C’s have now dropped to under the magic $100k line. In addition, as they are now over 10 years old, they will have fully bottomed out on the depreciation curve.  If you have a bit of patience, $110k-120k should be all it takes to land a good spec well maintained late production McLaren 12C Spider in today’s market.  Having owned three 12Cs, each from a different production year, I can attest that they got better with each model year.  For the money, you will be getting a car that not only outperformed everything in its class when launched, but could still keep pace with a Ferrari F8 up to 60 mph.  Spiders command a slight premium over the coupes but lose next to nothing in terms of performance due to the carbon fiber tub.

 

SCG 004S

I know it’s a bit unusual to put a new car on the good buy list but on occasion something does come along that is just so unique and a great deal that it qualifies.  Given that the SCG 004S is both the first and likely the last US built fully homologated, 3 seater, central driving position supercar certainly makes it quite interesting.  When you consider that the list price on the SCG 004S is 1/6th that of two other recent 3 seaters, the McLaren Speedtail or GMA T.50 (see: 21st Century 3 Seaters ) it looks like a huge bargain.  Throw in the fact that it is about the same price as the latest tarted up “limited edition” from Aston Martin, the DBS 770 Ultimate Edition (which despite a hefty 44 bhp increase in power over the base DBS delivers the same 3.4 sec. 0-62 mph sprint time and 211 mph top speed), I do think the SCG 004S qualifies as a great buy.

 

To be transparent, we do have an SCG 004S on order via the official dealer HK Motorcars.

 

 

A few Sports Cars that I would rate as Good Buys in 2023:

 

Alfa Romeo 4C

Alfa’s beautiful but flawed carbon fiber tub go kart.  These had a run up in value in 2021 but started to return to earth in 2022.  It is certainly the most interesting car to come out of Alfa Romeo this century (I am not including the 8C as it was basically a re-engineered/rebodied Maserati Granturismo).  $45k-55k seems like where the current market is right now, down from $55k-65k in 2021.  I would not be surprised if it dropped another 10-15% this year.

 

Porsche 911 Turbo (930)

When it comes to raw and wild, the 1st generation of the Porsche 911 Turbo is hard to beat.  The 911 (930) Turbo was nicknamed the “Widow Maker” for good reason.  Make the mistake of lifting off mid corner, and a quick trip to meet your maker is likely in order.  Prices on the first generation Porsche 911 Turbo have basically doubled in the last several years but started to soften a bit in the 2nd half of last year.  I would expect that to continue and once they drop into the $80k range, they should be a great buy again.

 

Maserati Granturismo

Early Maserati Granturismos have to be one of the best bargains in the current market.  Granturismo production ran from 2007-2019, and with over 40,000 produced it is likely the best selling Maserati of all time.  If you are brave, early high mileage Granturismos are $20k today which does put you in the driver’s seat of a Ferrari powered great sounding proper GT.  Double your investment to $40k and you get a mid production Granturismo with reasonable mileage.   There are quite a few Granturismos with 80+k miles on them which is a good indication of their build quality.

 

Summary

While this is a relatively short list, it’s not through lack of trying.  I looked at a wide range of different models but in the madness that’s today’s rapidly changing Supercar market, figuring out what really are good buys is harder than getting a getting a Ferrari Daytona SP3 build slot.  Almost all the cars on the list are between 10-20 years old which is just over the point where normal depreciation curves flatten out.  With one exception, they all fall into the group of yesterday’s models but not old enough to be classic yet.  Currently we have a sport & supercar market that is slowly deflating.  Inventories are way up.  Interest rates have spiked, and the housing market, which made a lot of buyers feel much richer than they should have, is tanking in many areas. All of this should lead to plenty of good buys and bargains emerging in 2023.

 

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Boutique Super & Hypercar Manufacturers: Dec 2022 Update

Boutique Super & Hypercar Manufacturers: Dec 2022 Update

There are some interesting updates among a number of the Boutique Hypercar manufacturers since I last posted the A Few Thoughts, March 2022 article.  Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG), Praga, Czinger, De Tomaso, Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA), and Delage have all been in the news.

Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG)

Following a similar philosophy to Ferrari in the early days, Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus is a racing team that both designs and builds their own race cars.  SCG then adapts these race cars for the road and sells to customers to help fund its racing activities.  In only its 2nd try, the SCG 007 finished on the podium at Le Mans this year in the top Hypercar class.  To say this is an impressive achievement is a huge understatement.  The works Hypercar team will return to the WEC and Le Mans in 2023.  In the GT class, SCG has been fielding a SCG 004C for a couple of years now as well.  Alongside the GT race car, SCG has developed two versions for the road, the base 004S (004S Test Drive Report) and the more track oriented 004CS. 

 

In very exciting news, the SCG has now passed all of the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS)crash tests and began production on the 1st customer SCG 004S with deliveries slated to start in early 2023.  The 004S is the first modern car in history to pass all the mandated FMVSS crash tests without airbags, which speaks volumes in terms of the design, engineering, and quality of the carbon fiber tub.  The production start up for a new manufacturer is a massive multistep undertaking that requires a huge amount of documentation.  Unlike most major manufacturers which run the three main process; Part Release, Manufacturing Release, and Production in succession, SCG is running them in parallel to save time and drive efficiencies.  The SCG 004S will be the first 3 seater, central driving position, fully homologated, supercar sold in the US market.  We do have a SCG 004S on order (SCG 004S Anticipation) and have finalized the spec.  This one will be a bit different from our other supercars and fitting of its racing heritage.  We are expecting to take delivery this spring. 

Praga

The Praga Bohema is the latest newcomer to join the increasingly crowded Hypercar market.  Praga is a Czech brand that dates back to 1907, disappeared under Communism and was reconstructed in the late 1990s as a motorcycle manufacturer.  In 2012 Praga re-entered the car business with the Praga R1 race car.  Following an ownership change in 2015, a road version of the R1 race car was developed, the Praga R1R.  Based on the positive reception to the Praga R1R, Praga decided to get into the hypercar business and started development of the Praga Bohema.  While it appears to be quite similar to the R1 race car, the Bohema is based on an all new carbon fiber tub.  The Bohema is powered by a Nissan supplied 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-6 producing 700 bhp.  Dry weight is 2164 lbs which makes the McLaren Senna look quite tubby.  Based on all the descriptions I have seen, the Bohema is far more race than road car with a tight cabin that requires a fair amount of flexibility to get into.  In many ways it looks like a simpler version of the Valkyrie that actually works and won’t deafen you every time you drive it.  Deliveries are expected to start in late 2023 and will be limited to 89 units at about $1.35 million each.

I did reach out to Praga for additional insights on the Bohema and was quite impressed with the response.  They indicated that the Bohema took 5 years to develop.  It is already road legal in the UK and EU approval is expected within the next 8-12 weeks.  Any US imports will need to be done under “Show & Display”.  Several press drives of the Bohema prototype have already taken place and depositors will get a chance to drive it in Dubai in Feb/March 2023.  The common theme in the press reviews is praise for the Bohema’s huge amounts of grip, stability, and grunt.  Of the 89 Bohema’s to be built, the 1st 10 are already allocated and they expect to have the full production run sold out by the time the first car is delivered.  The first deposit is a reasonable $100k and unlike almost all other manufacturers, it is held in escrow. From a customer standpoint, the escrow policy is excellent and shows the financial stability of the company.  I really like Praga’s approach and look forward to seeing how the company develops.

Czinger

The 21C was unveiled back in early 2020, right before COVID shut the world down.  In many ways, the 21C exists as a showcase for parent company Divergent’s complex additive manufacturing process (basically 3D printing) which allows for parts to be designed, combined, and tested digitally before the parts are “printed” and then assembled in the real world.  The technology is impressive and Divergent just raised $100 mil. from the Swedish firm, Hexagon AB.  I did reach out to Czinger on the new funding, and they did indicate that part of the funds are available for use in developing Czinger automobiles.  Divergent also recently entered into an agreement to provide the subframe for Aston Martin’s latest limited edition DBR22.  I would suggest Divergent take a look at Aston Martin’s Q3 Results before setting payment terms.

 

The list price on the 21C is $2 million, and the intended production run of 80 units is now set to begin in late 2023.  The 21C comes in two configurations, the base 21C and the low aero 21C V Max which is set up for high speed runs with the rear wing and winglets removed.  The 21C’s are powered by a Czinger developed 2.9-litre V8 which redlines at 11,000rpm and drives the rear wheels.  Two additional electric motors power the front wheels for a total of 1,233bhp.  Czinger has started to build out a dealership network and currently has 7 dealerships set up in the US and an additional 6 internationally.  At this point the 21C has made plenty of public appearances and done multiple high speed demonstration runs.  Czinger indicated that the homologation process is on track with crash testing going well (performing to target with great correlation) and on emissions they are running under the limits.  Czinger has taken deposits for the majority of the 80 units but there are still a few build slots available.  Putting aside the COVID era delay, the 21C does seem very much on track now.

 

Czinger has announced a 2nd model, the Hyper GT but has not started taking deposits on it.

De Tomaso

De Tomaso made little to no noise in 2021 other than posting a couple of videos about their past, a few line drawings, and black and white pictures of a gearbox housing. This comes after 2020’s only significant develop being a rather arrogant statement that they were moving their operations to the US as “the time has come to restore the romance, beauty, passion, and elegance in the luxury American automotive industry.” 

 

As the calendar flipped over into 2022, it turns out that De Tomaso will not be moving to the US, leaving the poor American automotive industry unrestored and romance starved.  Instead, De Tomaso has entered into a partnership with the Nürburgring based Capricorn Group to now co-develop the P72.  In the press release announcing the partnership, De Tomaso also stated that a new carbon fiber chassis and suspension would be developed vs. the one they had originally planned to use.  To produce the P72, a new factory at the Nürburgring was to be constructed with a targeted competition date in the summer of 2022.  So far, I have not been able to find any announcements on the factory being completed or a grand opening.  The only evidence of any sort of production start was a YouTube video De Tomaso posted in November showing parts being bolted onto a P72 as it sits on a stand in what appears to be a fairly empty oversize garage.  There is no voiceover on the video and no evidence that this is taking place in the new factory.  What De Tomaso does seem to be good at is repainting the prototypes and put them on display at various events.  To date there have been no reviews or test drive reports in any of the major automotive publications.

 

In early 2022, De Tomaso stated that customer deliveries were targeted to start in the first half of 2023.  De Tomaso promised the P72 would be fully homologated, and I have not been able to find any evidence that that process has started.  The early 2023 delivery timing now feels like it is somewhere between overly ambitious and downright delusional.  Given the amazing progress on developing the P72 over the last 4 years, this De Tomaso has naturally announced a second model, the P900 of which 18 will eventually be built at a price of $3 million each.  If Praga seems to have learned from Aston Martin’s foibles on the Valkyrie & Valhalla, De Tomaso seems to be embracing their philosophy.

 

 

Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA)

GMA continues to get everything right.  The GMA T.50’s debut at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting this year was a smashing success and came off flawlessly. GMA followed that up with an impressive showing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed before its US debut in Monterey in August.  GMA has been quite transparent on the development progress and is quite active on social media.  Having the great Dario Franchitti narrate a series of T.50 Vlogs on the development progress is a stroke of brilliance.  It appears now that both hot weather and winter testing have been completed.  While the T.50s fan still feels a bit gimmicky, the rest of the T.50 on paper is pure brilliance.  A high revving V12, manual gearbox, central driving position, and carbon fiber tub is as good as it gets. There have been a steady stream of customers posting on social media about the spec’ing process.  First deliveries are now set for early 2023 which is a slight delay from the original 2022 target.  From what I have heard, the slight delay is due to Gordon Murray being a perfectionist.  Not a bad thing from a customers standpoint.

 

The second model, the T.33, sold out instantly and also seems to be on track. GMA is in the process of building a new Headquarters and Production facility in the UK with phase 1 completed in October.  The T.50 will be built at GMA’s current location with the T.33 and future models to be produced at the new site.

Delage

The winner in the interesting timing category has to be the latest iteration of the French manufacturer Delage.  After 70 years of being comatose, the new owners decided August 2020, during the heart of COVID, was a good time to resurrect the brand and announce a new $2 million V12 hypercar.  In April 2022, the first running prototype made its appearance on track and the D12 was displayed at a number of events over the balance of the year.  Power is supplied by a V12 and two electric motors producing a combined 1,100 bhp.  The D12 is a tandem seater with the passenger seat mounted right behind the driver’s seat.  If you are looking to get rid of your partner, a few days road trip in a D12 should do the trick as I can’t imagine it is even remotely comfortable.  Of the 30 cars Delage is hoping to sell, 9 are slated for the US market under “Show & Display” with deposits down on 7 of the 9 so far.  How many deposits have been taken on the other 20 is unknown but it does appear build slots are still available.

 

This is one hypercar where I don’t see how the math adds up. 30 cars at $2 mil. a car is $60 mil. in sales.  The development and build costs alone will likely eat up most of the optimistically projected revenue.

 

 

Summary

2022 has been a year of great progress for almost all the Boutique Hypercar manufacturers.  I expect we will see deliveries for at least 4 out of the 5 reviewed here by the end of 2023.  Of the companies, the ones that really seem to be thriving are run by highly successful businessmen with extensive backgrounds in racing, deep connections in the industry, & decades of experience in the supercar arena.  If you are in the market for a hypercar, there has never been a time where you had more choice.  The downside to this is a considerable risk that the market is now over saturated especially when you include the recent launches from Aston Martin, Ferrari, Koenigsegg, McLaren, and Pagani.  It’s now a highly competitive field and not all will survive.

 

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December 2022

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