While I can easily imagine a world in which I bump into George Clooney and casually mention I’m working on a trio of one-act plays about Harry Truman and I think he’d be perfect for the lead role and he decides he has to do it, I have a harder time imagining being as wealthy and fashionable as Clooney. The whole Lake Como-in-a-wooden boat thing is too abstract from my daily existence. It’s why I hadn’t quite understood the appeal of luxury apartments with automaker branding, but a recent interview made it suddenly make perfect sense to me.
Well, sort of. If I had $15 million I don’t think I’d buy an apartment in Miami or Dubai. I’d buy a piece of land and build a rallycross track and spend some of that on cars, but that kind of thought process is maybe why I don’t have $15 million to spare.
You know who might? The CEO of Carvana and his dad. Collectively they made $11 billion on a Carvana stock rebound. I bet you didn’t see that happening. What you might have seen happen if you read these pages is that hybrid sales are doing extremely well, especially at Ford.
And, finally for our last bit of news in The Morning Dump, will we reach a point in the market where there’s an equal mix of new vehicle registrations by gas, ICE, and hybrid cars? It’s an important question.
Happy Friday, let’s Dump.
The Simple Reason Why You’d Buy A Porsche, Bentley, Or Aston Martin Apartment
The preponderance of real estate in Miami that’s being branded by automakers is kinda stunning. It seems like every week a new luxury tower from one automaker or another is being opened.
In fact, just this week Aston Martin Residences Miami opened. The 66-story Aston Martin building is actually the tallest all-residential building south of New York and contains 391 luxury apartments.
From an Aston Martin release:
Designed in collaboration between Aston Martin’s esteemed design team and world-leading architect Rodolfo Miani of Bodas Mian Anger (BMA), the condominiums and amenity spaces are encased in a bold sail-shaped building reflecting the marina setting and offering breathtaking panoramic views of Biscayne Bay, the Miami River and the dynamic city skyline, providing an ever-changing, immersive backdrop that reflects Miami’s tropical environment.
Seeking to exude the spirit and thrilling feeling of Aston Martin’s sports cars as soon as you walk into the entrance lobby, Aston Martin Residences Miami showcases the British marque’s design DNA and precision craftsmanship, which radiates throughout its breathtakingly beautiful common areas, which were carefully designed at the brand’s state-of-the-art design studio in Gaydon, Warwickshire.
The place looks like it fits the brand and comes with all sorts of amenities:
Highlight features adorned throughout the building include doors with bespoke artisan Aston Martin handles, number plinths, and kestrel tan leather door tabs. Residents can relax and unwind just steps from their front doors, with 42,275 square feet of outstanding “Sky Amenities” all painstakingly designed by Aston Martin.
Spanning four full levels between the building’s 52nd and 55th floors – all interconnected by a monumental and striking glass staircase – standout amenities consist of a two-floor fitness centre with views of the awe-inspiring Atlantic Ocean, an art gallery, two movie theatres, a virtual golf simulator, business centre and conference room, kids playroom, as well as a full-service spa, beauty salon and barber shop.
That sounds nice! I mean, the main reason someone might want to live in one of these places is that they’re super luxurious and comfortable. Who wouldn’t want to live there?
There’s obviously a much larger reason that has to do with this, which is that there are about 28,000 centi-millionaires in the world. These are people worth more than 100,000,000 dollars and, according to a consultancy that helps these rich people buy property, they:
[T]end to pursue domicile diversification to broaden their investment opportunities and business operations as well as to have location fluidity that safeguards them against risks ranging from geopolitical conflict to climate change to a viral outbreak.
Location fluidity is sometimes code for “gotta live somewhere if the totalitarian government back home that helped make me rich might decide they don’t like me or will try to tax me.” But, also, places like Miami are cool if you’re super rich… or just an ex-spy and his do-gooder pals looking to do some jobs while wearing sunglasses.
All of those reasons make sense, but there’s something that came up in a recent episode of the Odd Lots podcast that focused on luxury real estate. Here’s the transcript/recording of the episode, which features real estate media guy Hiten Samtani, who makes this point:
So there are, I think, just shy of 200 active branded condo projects in the world. Forty percent of them are in North America, and then they’re dispersed in places like Dubai, etc.
What happens, I believe, it’s connected to the initial point I made about this dispersion of global wealth. And so, a billionaire who is from New York understands 57th Street. They wouldn’t understand what Palm Jumeirah is. They might understand what Cavalli is, or Mercedes-Benz or Bugatti. So there is this coalescing around brands that are already known and you’re piggybacking off a luxury brand to create both legitimacy and exclusivity.
That’s super fascinating to me. It’s not just that someone might like Porsche or Bentley and want to be associated with that brand, it’s that if you’re rich and you’re from New York and suddenly want a place in Dubai or Sydney or wherever… how do you know what to get? How do you know you won’t get screwed by some shady builder? Simple: You go with a name you can trust.
Thus you might end up with this $15 million apartment in Porsche Design Tower, which was the original one of these places and became famous for its car elevator. For $15 million you get a four-car garage and a private pool, which ain’t bad. The price range for an Aston Martin Residence is $4-$59 million.
Some of the higher-end, as the podcast points out, might just be schnitzel measuring.
Carvana Dad Jumps From $3.1 Billion To $10.9 Billion
There are no second acts in American life my ass. Used car retailer Carvana might have gotten into trouble for expanding too fast and its business model might have stumbled during the late pandemic, which led us to exuberantly wonder what would happen if the company went out of business.
Myself included! Here’s what I wrote:
We’ve reported on the lawsuits and slumping stock price, but a Bloomberg piece from yesterday about the company’s creditors teaming up ahead of a potential debt restructuring deal has led the stock to crater. The company may not being going bankrupt tomorrow, but the wheels appear to be coming off the wagon. And if the wheels are off the deals are on, folks!
Got that one wrong. Carvana did have a rough go of it with the father-son duo of Ernie Garcia II and Garcia III seeing the company’s stock drop dramatically. The company’s Q1 financials are out and the rebound is in full effect. From Bloomberg via Automotive News:
“2022 and 2023 were a tough run for us,” Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia III said Thursday in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “When we went through that period, the team came together, we responded incredibly well and I think this quarter is undoubtedly the best quarter we’ve had in our history.”
Ernie Garcia III, 42, derives his wealth mainly from his stake in the company, which he co-founded in 2012 with his 67-year-old father, who’s also a major shareholder.
It’s truly the American Dream when someone can pick themselves up from being a single-digit billionaire to get back to 11 figures.
Ford Sales Slip, Hybrid And EV Sales Boom
Ford is one of the automakers still reporting monthly sales so it’s a good way to track the general market and, lo and behold, Ford came in down 2.4% for the month of April compared to last year. That’s pretty much where the market is on average (there’s one fewer selling day).
The biggest part of the slump comes from F-Series, which has been experiencing delays related to the company trying to ship trucks that don’t need to come back for constant recall work. The rest of the downturn comes from SUVs, with Escape winding down and the Bronco Sport stumbling.
You know what didn’t stumble? Electric cars are up 129% year-over-year as heavy discounting has made the Mach-E and F-150 Lightning extremely good deals.
Even better (by volume) are hybrids! Total hybrid sales are 59.5% month-over month, which is consistent with this year thus far. Thomas is working on a piece on Maverick sales, and that was a big part of it, but F-150 Hybrid sales also rose a whopping 94%!
The full sales release is here if you’re curious.
Will 2028 Be The Year We Hit A Perfect Market Mix?
One of my favorite things is the S&P Global Mobility forecast of nameplates, which shows that we’ll have nearly 650 nameplates by the end of the decade. That’s a wild stat!
The big reason why is that you’re going to end up with hybrid, EV, and gas versions of the same car. Hell, the Kia Niro has a gas version, a hybrid version, a PHEV version, and an EV version. It does make me wonder if this means we’ll get to a point where EVs, Hybrids, and Gas-powered cars all have equal market share.
If you look at the graphic above, S&P Mobility sees this happening around 2028, which isn’t that far away!
A Little TMD Music For Ya
I loved the original Buena Vista Social Club album when I was in high school and, when I think South Florida, this is what I think of musically (even though this music is famously Cuban).
The Big Question
Do we ever reach 33/33/33 for gas/ev/hybrid? If so, when? If not, what’s the closest we’ll get?
Images: Aston Martin, Carvana, Ford
“tend to pursue domicile diversification to broaden their investment opportunities and business operations as well as to have location fluidity that safeguards them against risks ranging from geopolitical conflict to climate change to a viral outbreak.”
ie: Money Laundering
“Do we ever reach 33/33/33 for gas/ev/hybrid?”
I predict something will happen that fucks up that dream.
For the rest of us, Ssangyong offers a 14-story building in Gary, IN, where $250k buys the sensible middle-aged accountant a modestly comfortable 2-bedroom unit on the 7th floor with a peekaboo view of the water tower and parking for one PHEV. The first year’s charging fees are free, and $90/mo after that bundled with the reasonable $370/mo HOA fees.
HELLOOOOO! because they are stupid, entitled, stupid ,worthless, stupid, entitled, stupid, worthless, entitled, stupid, worthless little rich fucks!!!!! Mystery solved
just to confirm, I was going off about the real estate
Well, being millionaire means they understand the money very well. You don’t.
being a millionaire means they know how to get and hold on to money.
that says nothing about how good they are at spending it.
The bigger question: 1% diesel? Steam? Ferret?
Ferret! A pack, pulling a cargo bike delivering Amazon goodies and generating undeserved goodwill.
It’s tough to zoom in on the Aston Martin apartment listing page, but the $59 million penthouse (levels 63-65) is a shocking 20,000 sqft
Because the ultra wealthy need to continuously spend money on extravagant things to feel anything?
Can we get a Fancy Kristen guest review of the Aston Martin apartments? I recall she did quite a marvelous one when they did a similar thing years back, so I’d treasure her take on the latest iteration.
“or just an ex-spy and his do-gooder pals looking to do some jobs while wearing sunglasses.”
I seem to remember them driving a lot of Hyundais.