Ferrari LaFerrari - the next Special Limited Series

Im willing to bet that a good majority of people who buys the licensed crap produced by Ferrari or Porsche or whatever do not know what the Nring is.

 

Hardly impartial from someone who had a "get erik reynolds a job at mclaren" Facebook page.

 

No, they don't. Not at all. They like Ferrari's F1 association and the road cars and their wives and girlfriends like red. That's all there is to it.

Racing enthusiasts who actually know figures and track names and times are few and far between. I would not think they make up more than 5% of the market. The rest of the market will happily buy anything Ferrari branded. Including Ferrari branded wine.

Racing wine anyone? How fast did yours lap the Ring?

Really, WGAF about the ring. Sure, it matters for those who race and those who care, but the vast majority don't.

Ferrari understands its market. Why can't you?

 

Well, back in that day there was the Pagani, Koenigsegg, a bit later later the Porsche Carrera GT, Maserati, the Mercedes SLR, and lots of other small manufacturers.

I´d say that the class was getting over populated already back then.

 

I think this is dead on. So Ferrari merchandising and licensing takes a hit if LaFerrari is a tick slower around the Ring than P1?! Ridiculous! The vast majority of merchandising and licensed goods are bought by everyday folks who may have a passing interest in racing. Maybe 5 out of 100 knows anything significant about the Ring and fewer still actually care if LaFerrari doesn't outperform P1 there.

The real world is made up of little folks who don't have access to multi-million dollar cars and lack the ability to go out to their garage and fire up their personally crafted sports car and race it around the great circuits of the world. But they do know that a Ferrari is a damn special kind of car. And they often just want a taste of what Ferrari means. So they get a hat, a t-shirt or a model car. So if LaFerrari ends up slower around the Ring than P1 does the hat go back? Does the model kit get thrown in the trash? Does Ferrari suddenly 'suck' to them? Its already been pointed out that 458 was slower around the Ring than the Porsche driven by Sabine Schimdt. Does the public at large even know this? Where were the headlines? Have orders for 458 suffered? There is a video of a Pagani Huayra outpacing an F12 around some track. Has F12 suffered from sales? Are any of the folks who own and operate F12's here on FerrariChat suddenly unhappy with their cars? I doubt it. Ferrari may well lose yet again to Red Bull in today's Hungarian Grand Prix. And while that will suck for fans of the Scuderia, the t-shirts and hats and posters will still fly off the shelves.

Because people love Ferrari....anyway.

LaFerrari should be just what Ferrari says it will be; The fastest road going Ferrari ever. It should outperform the vaunted Enzo in ever measurable category. And if it somehow doesn't do that then I would be disappointed. But that is quite unlikely now isn't it seeing as F12 already does.

It should perform admirably and competitively with all its rivals. And it may not be as fast around the Ring as P1, but thats ok too (for me at least). But as long as LaFerrari is the very best performing Ferrari ever made then everything else will take care of itself.

 

Yes and the earth is flat.

 

Ferrari does and realizes exactly how important Ring Times are for marketing purposes for La Ferrari that is why they very clearly stated on their placard at Geneva and to the Press that La Ferrari would be under 7m at the Ring along with it's 0-300 KPH and it's other specifications.

Do you seriously think Ferrari doesn't care if it's 0-300KPH and Ring Time don't beat the P1 or 918?

 

There's a reason they have all commented about their hypercars and the ring.

If it didn't matter to them and their customers they wouldn't bother.

 

I do think they have a concern on 0-300, I don't think they place as much emphasis as you do on the Ring time. As I have said before, would it make any difference to me as a buyer whether one car did it 5 seconds faster than another, could I ever hope to emulate these times? No, sorry but there is more to this than the almost mythical status imposed by you on Ring times. I think it is essential for Maclaren they are quickest as they have a point to prove and I think Ferrari need to be quicker than Porsche and under 7 mininutes but then a few seconds between them makes no difference at all from a commercial standpoint.

Then if Maclaren are quickest we will have all the bs about what tyres, who was driving, weather, did they turn the boost up, was it truly representative etc. Yawn.

 

Actually Erik - my post wasn't meant to be derogatory towards Mclaren...

 

The Enzo never went on the ring officially (and back in 2003/2004 the ring was already en vogue. It basically started at the end of the 90's with the first road cars doing less than 8mns, Jag 220, Nissan GTR, 996 GT3..) and yet, the car was sold out, the car was loved by the press, the car is still viewed as one of the most impressive supercar of the past decade and it still makes a statement when you see one. Ferrari marketing has been growing without problem since then.

And again, most people who buy the ridiculous and ugly licensed stuff do not know what the nurburging is. If you dont believe it, just check the facebook pages of Ferrari, Porsche etc..they barely know the cars.

 

It has become a talking point so Ferrari talks about it. Just as alternative energy has become an issue so Ferrari has started to dabble in it. However, each and every single one of the LaFerraris would have been spoken for regardless of alternative energy and regardless of any mention of the 'Ring. Enough wealthy people don't give a ****.. It's a car, but half the people who buy Ferraris don't even drive them.

They are not buying these for luggage capacity or transport or bragging times at the Ring. They are buying simply because they are in a position to buy one (or more) and managed to bag (or were invited to buy) the car(s).

Anyone fixated on Ring times does not understand consumer psychology, and is projecting his own obsession onto the rest of the market. Ferrari, out of the goodness of its corporate heart, might even offer such customers a race series with a race-prepped version of the car. LaFUXX?

 

They do care a little (obviously not enough to test there), but they also realize many of the buyers for this car care much more about other factors. I spoke about this among some fairly large Ferrari collectors this week ($4M+ in Ferraris). For some, the P1 and 918 were not even on their list. For those where they were, they were more concerned with the new Ferrari supercar having the highest, by far, "WOW" factor: absolutely thrilling to drive with the BEST styling, acceleration, sound, weight and response - The only word you should think of after seeing and driving it is "WOW"!

A fast Ring time would be nice, but definitely not a reason to buy the car. I believe these are the same items Ferrari's management and engineers focused on, and I think they may come out to be the BEST as a result. I believe focusing on a fast Ring time would compromise what their buyers want.

I suspect LaFerrari will be very close to the 918 and P1 on the ring. Even if it's not faster, that alone is a "WOW" because the engineer's didn't develop the car to be fast on the Ring and, I believe, it was never tested there. They did run the 599XX once just to show what they could do with that old platform, so I think they already proved they could do well if they wanted to.

 

Well said mate!!!
Είσαι έξυπνο παλικάρι...

 

This conversation is so silly! Look, it is very simple. Ferrari is been king of super cars for a long time. Many people both knowledgeable and unknowdgeable know this to be a fact. Now Mclaren enter the game. They have also a great racing history. There first car 12C, goes faster and is more technological tour of force than the 458. I say again, there FIRST car. Now there second car look like it is even more incredible from performance, technology and design. But of course people still love Ferrari. Why? Because it has incredible reputation of performance and beautiful. But in a few years more if Mclaren continue like this, Ferrari will lose its position. Why? Because the new champion of super cars (Mclaren?) will be faster than Ferrari, better technology and attractive. Then more people will want to associate with this brand because they are the new king of super cars. And Ferrari will lose its position. Jesse Owens was fast too and a world hero. But now nobody talk about him. Everbody talk about Usain Bolt. Why? Because he is faster. Ferrari must do much better and not expect us to be satisfied with second position. We are talking about SUPER cars, not almost the best SUPER cars.

 

Not overnight. In a few years it is very possible.

 

People said the same thing when the Honda NSX appeared...

Although I agree in that you have to be always growing if you don´t want to end in the same corner than Rolls-Royce.

 

I don´t think that McLaren will make such a difference.

In the last 20 years Ferrari has been facing hard competition from Porsche, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and the occasional Japanese car, with varying degrees of sucess. Now it´s McLaren too: well, one competitor more won´t change a lot. Soon there will be new Porsches GT2/3/RS and a new Lamborghini Gallardo that will probably outperform the McLaren and the Ferrari, so it will be rinse and repeat for everybody.

 

None of the above were both hyper and production.
Cept the Maser which was an Enzo.

The trend was beginning but at this stage of its life the Enzo had this market to itself.

 

The Porsche and the Pagani were not hyper?

Whoa, you have very high standards then.

 

The Porsche followed the Enzo by a couple of years. My point concerns how the Enzo was positioned when introduced. Since the comparison is to the LF at its present stage.
The Pag wasn't a production car in that it didn't have a dealership network the way Ferrari did.