McLaren vs Ferrari

Under Gordon Murray's uncompromising engineering vision, McLaren Cars launched the revolutionary McLaren F1. Featuring a central driving position, a gold-lined engine bay, and a carbon fiber monocoque chassis, it secured the title of the world's fastest naturally aspirated production car.

The company was structurally separated and relaunched as McLaren Automotive under Ron Dennis' leadership to build a permanent high-volume supercar brand. The introduction of the MP4-12C targeted Ferrari's dominance, establishing an advanced modular production system.

Following a series of intense post-pandemic supply chain disruptions that strained corporate liquidity, the Bahrain sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, completed a 100% equity acquisition of the entire McLaren Group, stabilizing the company's long-term operational runway.

In a transformative transaction, Abu Dhabi advanced mobility investment firm CYVN Holdings acquired 100% outright ownership of McLaren Automotive. The brand was merged with British EV startup Forseven into a new entity, McLaren Group Holdings, to accelerate its high-performance electric supercar development.

Enzo Ferrari founded Scuderia Ferrari as a racing team in 1929, initially operating as the official Alfa Romeo factory racing team. When Alfa Romeo shut down its racing programme in 1938, Ferrari founded his own company — Auto Avio Costruzioni — in 1939. His vision was purely motorsport: he wanted to build race cars and win races. Road cars were, from the beginning, a necessary evil to fund what he actually cared about.

The first car to bear the Ferrari name, the 125 S, was completed in 1947. Enzo Ferrari reportedly said: "I sell my clients the engine. I give them the rest of the car for free." This statement captured his philosophy precisely: the road cars existed to subsidise the racing programme, not the other way around. Ferrari personally approved every car sold and maintained a customer waiting list regardless of demand — scarcity was always deliberate.

By the late 1960s, the cost of Formula One competition had outgrown what road car sales could sustain. In 1969, Enzo Ferrari sold 50% of Ferrari to Fiat, retaining personal control of the racing operation. Fiat eventually increased its stake to 90%, but Enzo retained effective control until his death in 1988. The deal gave Ferrari the financial resources to keep racing — while keeping Enzo in charge of the only part that mattered to him.

Ferrari went public on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2015, spinning off from Fiat Chrysler at a valuation of approximately $10 billion. Investors quickly revalued the company as a luxury goods business rather than an automotive manufacturer — comparing it to Hermès and LVMH rather than Ford and Volkswagen. The logic was simple: Ferrari's profit margins were multiples of any conventional car company, and it could raise prices without losing customers. Ferrari's order book routinely extended two years into the future regardless of economic conditions.

Ferrari reported full-year 2025 revenues of €7.146 billion — up 7% — with operating profit of €2.11 billion at a 29.5% EBIT margin. The company delivered 13,640 cars in the year, slightly fewer than 2024, reflecting its deliberate strategy of keeping volumes flat while driving revenue higher through richer product mix and personalisation. The order book extended to the end of 2027. Ferrari's 2030 strategic plan targets €9 billion in revenue and €3.6 billion in EBITDA. Six new models were launched in 2025, including the 296 Speciale and the Amalfi. Enzo had been right: it was never really a car company. It was a brand that happened to make cars.