Worthwhile article on Ferrari in today's WSJ:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117858807994195295.html?mod=hpp_us_editors_picks

 

Interesting article.

 

Good article it makes the correct points on how the challange exists to grow without being seen to compromise the exclusivity.

 

The last guy in the article is on the waiting list for a 612???

You'd think those would be easier to acquire than the 599/430.

 

Agreed I thought that strange maybe its a special spec, time for you to keep that beautiful car of yours at home and get another for everyday driving

 

I wonder what kind of wait there was for the old 308's back in the 80's. Mine was actually sold to the second owner back in 84 who wanted a new white 308QV but was told he had to wait for one that color. Meantime he was told that they did have my black QV that was just traded. Instead of waiting for the new one like he wanted, he bought my used one. That story makes me wonder; either there were no "new" 308QV's on the showroom or there were no new ones in a color he wanted.

 

That was odd, plus why wouldn't the royal family in Dubai come up with the cash to pick up one of the many flipped 599s being offered for resale here?

Maybe if gas hits $5/gallon they could stretch a bit...

The big question was the issue of factory capacity. Porsche gets by, making Boxsters in Finland, but does Ferrari realistically have the option to open a second factory? Or is Maranello too ingrained as part of the magic? There's no way they can produce 10,000 cars a year, per the article. Imagine a Ferrari factory in China...

 

?? Where did I miss that point?

 

I have been on the waiting list for a 430 Spider at Ferrari of Denver since 2002.

2 years. I think the people who buy a new one every year or every new model get pushed up to the front of the list. I think smaller dealerships get less cars allocated. Perhaps you get a better chance of early delivery at a big dealership.

 

There is a guy here in town with a 430. He has a great story about dealing with the dealers and being on their "waiting" list. He nearly had to go to court to get his car. I believe they were selling them to people further down the list or to people who weren't even on a list for more money and lying to him about it.

 

Maserati Factory....

 

Working at the dealership when 308's were new I can tell you that we had a two year backlog when GTS's came out in 78, we were still delivering new spec ordered 79's well into 1980. I suspect we were selling maybe 8 to 10 cars a year (keep in mind the factory was making a total of 1800 cars a year).

Between the recession and poor performance the 2V injected cars were very hard for us to sell, we only sold 2 1980my cars one of which was in stock for close to a year (Bianco Polo Park over dark red, a fabulous combination in my opinion). The early 80's were a very difficult time for Ferrari stores, as were the early to mid 90's.

When 4V cars arrived in 83 we still had unsold 2V cars, as one can imagine they were very hard to unload. As TR's were introduced we once again started a waiting list which grew to a couple of years in the late 80's for 328's. Testarossa's (and 288's to a lessor extent) did a huge amount to raise the public awarness in Ferrari, at least in N.A.

348's were not well received in late 89, this combined with a recession once again caused a slowdown for the 8 cylinder cars though we never really had a TR for stock until 93 or 94.

Don't even ask about Mondial Coupes....saleproof!

 

We had 01 TR's in stock in 1993(at ASC). How about 0% financing for 512 TR's in 93...........

 

We were lucky, our TR's were gone when 512's came out. I remember FNA offering us extra TR's (unheard) in late 90...we took three.

Just like 308 2v injected cars being difficult to sell after QV's came out, I feel sorry for the poor salesman stuck with shifting a TR with 512TR's on the floor....the 512TR is such a hugely better car.

 

Fascinating stuff. Someone should do an 'Interview with a 1980s Ferrari Dealer' feature with you guys.

 

That is interesting stuff about Ferrari's build numbers in the late 70's and 80's. I just read in a recent Road and Track article (this month's actually), and a Ferrari employee stated that they made 5800 cars last year. I recall just a couple of years ago when Montezemolo stated they would make only 4000 + - annually and that is all. I hope Ferrari puts a lid on their numbers.

 

well hopefully we can keep it right around 28-30% for the US and Canada or else we will be in a whole lot more trouble

 

Pretty long article but definitely worth the read. Ferrari should just stick to their current production of less than 5000 cars per year just so we can still keep the exclusivity of the car.

 

At the start of the article and pretty much all the way through emerging markets Russia and China more volume less exclusivity?????

 

IMO this article is a carefully crafted PR piece to prep people for the inevitable price and production increases and long waits. Is it me or do most of these F news pieces wind up in the WSJ? Accident? Perhaps not

 

Money is the bottom line. If Ferrari See's a market for another 5 thousand cars a year they would be dumb not to up production.

It would hurt the exclusivity of the brand for sure, but I think that has already happened with the 360 and 430 production numbers.

When you would see a 308 or 328 back in the 80's you knew the guy had money. No bank would finance 80k for a car. He had to pay cash or have a massive down payment. Nowadays anybody that can scrape together 2k a month can drive one. Blame the banks for the higher production numbers, not Ferrari. They are just doing what any smart business would do.

 

Good article. I think it's absurd to have a waiting list of 18+ months. A lot of business being lost to more available Porsche or VW Lambo.
Make some more cars, correct the shady dealership preferential treatments, and have more buyers without a need to drop the price.

 

Since when has Italy been one of ferraris biggest markets?

Also sounds too much like PR to me

 

No accident!!

 

I'm not sure more worldwide production of Ferrari cars will have that much effect on the U.S. market, if the increase in production is to supply emerging markets in Russia, China, and the Middle East. The total number of Ferrari cars produced for 2006 was 5,700 worldwide, but only 1,635 cars for North America. A recent article says:

"2006 was the 14th consecutive year of increasing sales for Ferrari North America ending with 1,635 units retailed. This represents a 5.5% increase versus 2005. North America is the most important market for Ferrari, representing approximately 30% of the marque’s worldwide sales. The Ferrari dealer network is comprised of 36 dealers (32 in the United States, four in Canada) in North America."

So, that is an average of just under 46 cars per dealer per year. That is for all models, which currently are the 612, 599, F430, and F430 spider. That is less than an average of 4 cars per month per dealer.

This implies that the average 18-month waiting list would be only a total of 79 people or so (total of four car model waiting lists). It is easy to see how a dealer can have a 5-year waiting list (about 230 people) and be hesitant to add new people to the list.

The challenge is, how can Ferrari increase production in North America so that the long wait lists get closer to an 18-month list without diluting their brand value and exclusivity?

Is one option to increase the number of models offered? That way, each model is still built in very low numbers but the total allocation of cars for North America could significantly increase, perhaps to double the 1,635 cars currently. If so, what new models could they add? A lower cost Dino and Dino Spider are the obvious ones (something around $120k). Perhaps a 2+2 Spider (Imagine a 612 Spider)? Maybe a rally car, kind of like the old Lancia Stratos? But hopefully not a 4-door sedan or SUV.

Thoughts?