Are Ferraris too expensive?

My question is...

On average have Ferraris exceeded inflation ?

 

How much did a Daytona cost relative to a normal car? Does a similar multiple hold today (2010 avg car price times the Daytona/avg car multiple = 2010 Ferrari list price)? I don't have the numbers available so I'm just suggesting one way to answer the OP's question.

 

I've been thinking about the same thing. It seems like a loaded 458 will be around 300ish almost.

 

Did you ever go into a fancy restaurant and look at the menu and it says "Maine lobster tail --- market price"?

Same thing with Fcars. As long as there are people out there who have the means and want to pay for them, prices will be high.

Part of the reason prices are high is that exclusivity is low. For all the belly aching that people give Ferrari for making "too many" cars, the fact is that if they made fewer the price would simply be higher, making them even less obtainable.

Why? Two reasons

1) It's expensive to bring a product like a car to market. It costs millions and millions of dollars. So, to make about 18K of them over the years, you have to amortize all those costs over the lifetime of the vehicle.

2) Market demand. The more people out there that will pay these -- or even over pay for these -- the higher the price is for everybody.

These two things are not going to change anytime soon, even in this rough economy.

Somewhere in the world someone is making enough bucks to buy a new Ferrari.

 

I don't think you can compare a Daytona to a normal car but if you look at the relative price compared to a Corvette, I found the following based on a simple web search ($$=MSRP or List Prices for that time)


1968 Corvette: $4,600

1968 Ferrari 365 GTB/4: $19,500

2010 Corvette Z06 (base): $75,000

2010 Ferrari 458 Italia: US price unknown: 4x Corvette would be $300,000

2010 ZR1 $105k and 599 HGTE $395k: The multiple of 4 x still seems to hold up.

 

I did this chart several months back in response to a similar question. It plots the base price of Ferrari models over time in 2008 dollars. There has been a rise, but Ferraris, even excluding the special models, have been in the $200-300K range for a while (in adjusted $).
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The classics, certainly. While I love the history of a 250TR60, I'd be afraid to drive a real one anywhere. It's more of a museum piece than a "consumable". Same thing with a Lancia Stratos Stradale. Great winter car, but the originals are too rare to run in winter.

As to new ones, it's not a car for the average commuter. But most cell phone zombies would hurt themselves severely in one, anyway.

Sure, but remember what a Chevy used to run, back then?
(1970 Chevelle SS 454. Base price $3800.)

And houses:
(1970: Warrendale, PA: 6 room ranch wall to wall carpeting, $12,900)
(Today: Warrendale, PA: 3br, 0.95 acres: $274,900)
(Quick google searches.)


I think the real question is, At what point does a high price attract "for show" buyers, rather than true enthusiasts?

E.g.: those who buy to prove they can afford it, rather than buying it for the driving qualities.

 

FML has a very interesting analysis of the Auction's in Scottsdale. The party for is over and has been for a while.

Regarding production Ferrari's the party is over for them as well.

Look at US Sales in February. Extrapolate those numbers. Look at the number of Stradales and 16M's for sale. Look at the number of other models of used Ferrari's for sale.
One Internet site alone lists 490 F 430's for sale:

http://autos.aol.com/used-list/make1-Ferrari/model1-F430

The Hard Rain has begun but it will be a long time before it stops falling.

Ferrari has the capacity to produce 10K cars a year.

How many do you think they're going to sell in 2010?

 

When you look at all the technology and performance that goes into building a Ferrari, I don't think they are too expensive. Sure you can buy a Corvette ZR1 with similar performance but then here's where they differ. Absolute cutting edge technology
materials,exclusivity,design. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't mind a Vette, but at the end of the day......And another thing,if you want to be the first kid on the block with an Italia,yes your'e going to pay the $300+K pricetag. After a year or so, it'll be down to MSRP. Then you look at a Bugattti Veyron, at over a million with similar performance, then Ferrari doesn't look too expensive.Yeah the Veyron can go 200+mph ,but those are just numbers very few will see in real life. The overall package of Ferrari is what can't be beat.

 

Always a lot of wrangling about value and price on nearly every thread. With few exceptions, cars are not investments. Almost all of them are going to depreciate. If I think about it, did I take a bath on my CS purchase? Definitely. But who cares. I love it.

Which is better a F430 or CS or a Scuderia, or a F50 or an Enzo, a Miura or a Mangusta? Drive them all and pick out the one you like and offer/pay what it is worth to you.

If someone wants to pay $17,000 for a bottle of wine that tastes just like a $100 bottle of something from Stag's Leap to me and wax poetic on its nuances and subtleties, fantastic. Power to him. Whatever floats there boat. Whatever the market will bear.

Too expensive? $300k? Someone has paid $28M for a used race car.

 

h20skier tag line says it all: "What if the hokey pokey is what it's all about?"

 

Of course they are! Thats a silly question?

 

Then why do you keep buying every cool new model that comes out???

 

Coz I am a sucker for new toys!!!!

 

I have to agree with Napolis on this one. Ferrari has way too much production capacity. At 500 units per year they were selling out of everything at premium prices. Like many car companies they got greedy and may have expanded too quickly. Keeping that factory busy building cars will be a challenge this year. Prices will remain high, and should. Paying a premium over sticker should be considered a thing of the past.

 

No.

Sure, I, like 85% of the population could never afford to buy one new (currently investigating purchasing my dream car, the Testarossa), but some things on this planet SHOULD stay out of reach.

How else would man kind find the incentive to better himself, make more out of life, and perhaps one day be rewarded financially enough to afford the "special treats", Ferrari being one of the finest.

So long as limited numbers back up the price with exclusivity, I see no reason to change.

The finest jewels are tiny hunks of rock out of the ground, and fetch a huge sum.

There are plenty of expensive things in life that make much less sense than owning your dream. And that's what a Ferrari is. It is more than a car. It is a destination in life. And I'm hoping to arrive real soon

 

Maybe a contrarian view- but I think they may actually be getting cheaper. Inflation adjustment is one factor, but I'd bet if you overlayed income we might see that the equivalent buying power has broadened. This seems to be further strengthened by the disposible portion of income, which allows us to buy more, experience more, travel more, (waste more) and such.

Just a feeling mind you- I'm not a social scientist but it seems that a lot more people today can afford a $75-100k plaything and there's a lot of Ferrari in that range and lower.

I wonder how many Daytonas were built relative to '68 Corvette, and 430s relative to '09 Vettes? (and all the other cars you could compare). At the end of the day the demand side sets the supply and it seems to keep growing- that seems to mean they are considered higher value than the other market alternatives.

 

Was that you buying those Lakefront Apartments in China for 45MM?????

:0

 

If you can afford one, and money is no object, then no they are not too expensive.

Now if you're talking maintenance on one, THAT is expensive

 

"No. (They're not too expensive)

So long as limited numbers back up the price with exclusivity, I see no reason to change."


Their productive capacity has gone up 100%.

The number of "used" late model Ferrari's for sale is very high.

The US sales in 2010 of New Ferrari's are no where near a 10,000 per year world wide sales
rate.

This tells us what?

 

The big problem as I see it is that the cars will depreciate HARD now. Before, someone like me might be able to justify spending $200,000 on a car that was still worth $180,000 3 years later. And you had people buying new because they could trade to the next new car for little or no loss. But today you better be willing to lose $100,000, maybe $150,000 really fast to buy new. And suddenly the difference between the "old and busted" scuderia is not worth $100,000 to trade to the latest car.

In essence, you have really cut into the customer base. The guys with money who like Ferraris already HAVE one. And a much smaller percentage are going to trade up, no matter how good the next car is, in this environment, when the difference really is incremental.

Ferrari is always the last to feel it. Lambo is already getting slayed, and people are saying the same thing: they are not going to trade a 2007 Gallardo for $90,000 against a $250,000 LP560. I think Ferrari is going to get hit too, but the big hit is coming.

 

The Lambo 2010 Sales figures are shocking.

 

Jim, my dealer (also a Lambo dealer) said there are brand new 2009 Lambos sitting at US Port of entry facilities that are unsold. He said Lambo disregarded demand during production and had a bad financing model. I have not seen 2010 sales figures, does this seem correct to you?

 

Feb. 2010 23 cars down 32% YOY

2010 to date 56 cars down 28.6% YOY

Total disaster IMO.