Automobiles covers car, electric-vehicle, motorcycle and recreational-vehicle makers. MoatScope covers 34 companies here. One has a wide moat, eight a narrow moat and 25 none.
How the industry makes money
Carmaking is capital-intensive and cyclical: companies spend billions on factories and new models, then earn thin margins on each vehicle, with financing arms and parts adding steadier income. Scale matters, but it rarely produces pricing power.
Where the moats are
Brands, counted as intangible assets, appear in all nine moat-rated companies, and few other sources show up.
- Ferrari: a category of its own, where scarcity, racing heritage and a devoted client base support pricing no mass-market maker can match.
The narrow-moat group includes Tesla, Toyota, General Motors, Ford, Honda, Stellantis and Thor Industries. Companies without a moat include Polestar, Li Auto and Rivian. Ferrari scores 84 on MoatScope's quality scale, against an industry average of 24.
What wears moats down
The shift to electric vehicles demands heavy investment, low-cost competitors from China are expanding abroad, and tariffs, labor costs and demand cycles swing results sharply.
What to watch
- Electric-vehicle pricing and adoption.
- Competition from Chinese automakers.
- Tariffs and trade policy.
Moat ratings and quality scores on this page update as companies report. Price versus fair value for every company in the industry is in the screener.