Monday, 28 June 2010

BRM partnership


Observant ones amongst you will have noticed the BRM signature watch-clock has appeared on the Home page of the UK website.

This is the first in a wave of marketing partnerships that I am seeking to develop with other leading luxury automotive brands of the world.

BRM watches are configurated by the customer and 'built to order' just like the best cars, and Bernard Richard shares a strong automotive passion which runs through his entire collection and design philosophy.

Aside from undertaking joint social events, such as track days and factory visits/champagne tours with BRM top clients, we are producing a limited edition run of 25 specially designed é25 watches. The final design is yet to be worked out but the picture here is our "concept car". It's not easy to see in the photo but aside from the corporate colours it has an é25 logo on the crown!


Thursday, 24 June 2010

Congratulations to Danno!


Many congratulations to Dan and his partner Ellie who had their first born, baby boy this week.

His name is Solomon - so I wish him the wisdom of, and also that he turns out a better driver than his Dad - the latter being significantly easier to achieve than the former!
I am sure Dan would be delighted to receive any well wishes - you are welcome to email him at dan@ecurie25.co.uk

Friday, 11 June 2010

R8 V10 Spyder - launch party



Summer is here and "Club Nights" are back - last night we had the V10 Spyder launch party and I was pleasantly surprised to have about 80-90 folks swing through.




Next up is the 458Italia launch - that will be the big Summer party - put it in your diaries - 29th July!


Thursday, 3 June 2010

Drive a Ferrari for free!

The Azzure California is the first example of a car that was financed by a member throughout its life with the club. As such it provides a pure example of the economics of the Vehicle Owners Programme without any assumptions needing to be made to fill in the gaps. It provides a compelling story - here's what the owner of the car got for his investment:

COSTS:
Depreciation: £23,000 (Purchase price: £165,000, Sale price: £142,000)
Servicing: £1,350
Total: £24,350

INCOME
Club Mileage: 14,800 @ mileage tariff of £2/mile = £29,600

Own usage:
1200 miles: 2 weeks (at Christmas/New Year) and 3 other weekends

NET RETURN
£5250, giving an effective return on £165,000 of 3.2% over 9 months = 4.3% annualised. (If the investment had been undertaken in a VAT-rated business, the ROI would rise to just over 5% - not shown here)

This member purchased the car specifically for the é25 scheme, so it is not appropriate to consider the other costs that would have been saved by him, but if he already owned the car and gave it to us he would also have saved on the following estimated costs:
Insurance, £2500, Road Tax: £350, Parking permit/Garaging, £5400
Adding in an additional £3000 saving based on a combination of the above figures, would increase to a 6% return (7% for VAT-rated businesses)

Obviously depending on individual circumstances, this return can be viewed in several ways - if you already own a car (that you don't use very often) or if you have the cash in the bank earning 0.5%, then this is almost a no-brainer.

In summary, owner members of top-end cars can look forward to an economic return of between 4 and 7%, and about £12,000 worth of motoring in a premium supercar which you might otherwise have had to wait 2 years to get.

We have 2 Mercedes SLS (Gullwing) in the pipeline and one is available for a VOP member (September arrival). I expect the economics to be quite similar to the example above. Let me know if its of interest.