488 Pista - qualifying demands

Yes i bought an ff and was invited to the factory to see the laf and never got the final allocation. Since then i passed on gto,speciale,aperta, and pista but i took down a tdf.


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It is human nature to crave that which is difficult or impossible to attain. If it was the norm to visit your Ferrari dealer, order a Pista at MSRP and receive one within 12 months, many would be less eager to purchase one. Personally, I had no desire to buy a GT2RS when I first heard about it. But now that getting one at MSRP is impossible, that car becomes increasingly appealing.

 

Ferrari merchandizing and selling practices might begin to change due to the fact that it is a publically traded company and has a fiduciary obligation to its shareholders. The stock price has plummeted from a 52 week high of $149 , closing yesterday at $110. The company has missed revenue estimates for 4 consecutive quarters. It is only logical that Ferrari needs to increase revenues which translates to higher car production and/or price increases.

 

That is nuts, thank goodness you weren't trying to squeeze in at that moment.

 

This is a truly awful story. I simply cannot begin to fathom this.

 

This is why I’m not concerned about not getting an allocation. I know for a fact my dealer is going to probably come to me in 12-18 months and offer me a car. They don’t have a choice- they need to make more cars. Public company and all.

Only problem is I’ve bought another brand. I kept my 488 and frankly not sure I want to take a 200k bath on the 488 to get a Pista.

Had the dealer been upfront and from the get go told me, you will have an allocation in 18 months, likely I might have been patient, may have waited. But due to the games of exclusivity, buy a Lusso- yada yada- I just moved on.

My loss for not getting a Pista? Maybe? But I’m super happy with my current stable of cars in the garage.

The balance dealers have to play is to balance the exclusivity of the product - with not pissing off the customer so they just bail and take their 300 grand elsewhere. In my humble opinion, Ferrari is failing at that balance currently. There are too many good reliable cars out there for me to not know if I’ll be allocated a car.

Be upfront, treat your millionaire clients with respect and don’t bs them. They didn’t earn their wealth by being stupid.

 

Agree 100%. But I see this in all brands...plenty of bad dealers out there. Arrogance never ceases to amaze me, but like you said I too vote with my pocketbook.

 

Many own Ferraris who aren't millionaires. Being a millionaire isn't what it used to be...there are 14,814,453 millionaires in the United States. Having a net worth of $1m has become almost common in the major US cities. I think I read somewhere that there are something like 140 new millionaires formed in the US every day(...I could be wrong....googled for a bit and couldn't find the info.) Point is, being a millionaire is a great achievement shared by many (many) folks.

Get this, there are somewhere around 83,620 American Households with $50,000,000 or more, and 36,202 households with $100,000,000 or more. Even at that level you can't walk into a Ferrari store and think you can jump the line. Won't happen.

Now factor in the GLOBAL markets. Ferrari demand vs supply. Global demand for Ferraris is making US buyer on par with buyers in other parts of the world.

Rules have and will continue to change.

https://dqydj.com/how-many-millionaires-decamillionaires-america/

 

Totally agree. Porsche has $h!t the bed as well. Lambo (atleast locally) is no bs, no games. You have money? We have car. Lets do a deal. Same with mclaren.

I’ve gone to two different local Porsche dealers and both just complete a$$ clowns in trying to work with them. I too voted with my wallet. Just don’t have time for the nonsense.

 

Thanks Rainman for the stats. . I joke, I joke!

I was just making a point about treating wealthy clients properly.

I’m not bitter at Ferrari- they can do whatever they want that they feel is best for their business. I’m just indifferent towards them.

I would argue they can’t afford in the long run either type of customer- bitter nor indifferent. Lucky for them, they have a bunch of people waiting in line to buy lussos to be able to get a non limited edition production car. Good for them.

 

Net worth is not a measure of wealth. I would think that people who would be most likely to qualify are those that can write checks for the cars and that have demonstrated their willingness in the past to do so. We are not talking about people who buy 10 year old Ferraris here, we are talking about people that can write a check for $450k to pay for a new car when it comes in. That rules out a lot of those "net worth" millionaires.

 

Of those millionaires, how many have liquid one million in an account? That will reduce the number significantly when you don’t include primary residence as part of the net worth.

 

Right, that is what I am referring to. Plus, not just having the million available to make a purchase but beyond that having sufficient income to replenish the account that wrote the check. Ferrari purchases are more or less mad money IMO.

 

One million net worth is totally different than one million cash.

 

Most "rich" households don't want a Ferrari though anyway. The reality is that Ferrari sells like 8k cars a year. They'd sell 100k if they really could. They can't though. Being rich doesn't mean you care about cars. The line to jump isn't as long as you think.

Tons of people can afford Ferraris, but most don't want them.

Exotic sales didn't plummet in 2008/2009 because there were so fewer rich people. They plummeted because there wasn't a lot to begin with, and many were on the fringe anyway.

 

Lucky for them, they have a bunch of people waiting in line to buy lussos to be able to get a non limited edition production car. Good for them

I mentioned this before...perhaps a story worth retelling.

Had a very good convo with a long time Ferrari owner. He has all the very hard to get special editions. LAF Aperta level owner. He told me that he and every other Status 2 owners he knows have to buy (at least) one 'normal' production Ferrari from every class. GT, Midengined etc. So he told me that every new production cycle he (and his friends) buy are tailor-made versions. For example, tailor-made Port, tailor-made Lusso, tailor-made 488 then spider. Even then they are asked to buy other cars like the 70ths. He keeps the special cars (LAF, LAF Aperta, TDF etc) and trades the normal cars with the same dealer. He has done a couple Ferrari driving schools and attends Ferrari events often.

He lives in Seattle where there are a billion billionaires and to be considered special in a market like that requires this level of dedication.

Being rich is not special in the Ferrari world. You must stay in the market and not be complacent. If you pass on cars, don't step up when being offered cars there are many other guys behind you who will gladly displace you.

 

I totally get that. Like I said I’m not begrudging Ferrari for their business model. They are obviously a lot smarter than me.

I don’t have the desire or the wealth to buy cars like a billionaire. I have a certain amount of funds allocated to my toys- and I’d argue that relatively speaking it’s a healthy amount compared to Joe Q Public.

I also understand that my couple hundred grand is not important to Ferrari and as I’ve said before and I’ll say again, I’m not bitter about it at all. I’ve just moved on for the time being.

If they come to me with an allocation and I have the funds available and I like the car, I’ll pull the trigger. It’s all good. All I’m saying is that I have zero desire to play the games required to get a Pista. Just as I don’t have any desire to pay 200k over for a gt2 rs. Plenty of other toys out there that fit within my desires and means.

 

I totally understand.

 

counter punch...I do know a very nice gent (who is probably reading this now who was offered a Pista because he is a respected (and respectful) owner who shows 2 perfect 80s/ 90s era Ferraris. Wins awards etc. He has had his cars through his dealers classiche departments. He attends local and national Ferrari events. So, its not about just having the money...its also about who Ferrari wants to represent them as owners.

 

And there is the arrogance factor many don't want to deal with.

Plus, once it's on the secondary market they won't have that option...but by that time many have moved one. Hence one reason you are seeing 488's stacked up at dealers (albeit one of many reasons).

One thing I learned long ago--there is always someone richer than you and better looking.

 

yes sir, very true.

With that said I bet the dealers themselves have to wade thru more than their fair share of arrogant types to find the 1:50 real buyers. I doubt its an easy way to make a living.

 

No doubt. Bad dealers and plenty of bad buyers.

 

Here is something in your picture that is puzzling. These people are jumping when the dealer/Ferrari says frog. I find that picture a bit hard to swallow given the massive resources available to them. So people this wealthy are also quite powerful and that is more of what their wealth is about, power vs. possessions. They are not going to allow themselves to be in any position of weakness vis-a-vis someone selling them things. So I doubt they lose any place in line, the next guy down the line gets offered their cast off and they keep their spot.

For the rest of us that do have the cash to buy on the spot but not the dealer leverage, we get those castoffs. The thing here is that there is a very limited pool of the kind of people you are referring to and they buy scads of other things like homes, boats, planes and other types of cars as well. They are not required to flash a Ferrari as a demonstration of their wealth and power as much as Ferrari would like them to. That is the nut of the problem for Ferrari at that level.

I have to believe that Ferrari will continue to cater to them but in order to sell more cars it has to figure out a way to get people like us to buy something for $450k every year. Exclusivity appears to be working with the Pista but it didn't with the 488 Spider as it's playing out like it's a Cali T at this point. In fact, anything that isn't completely new won't be exclusive and then it only holds that spot for a year at best. The new cycle has not been working for Ferrari since they went public.

The standard non-special cars built since then have all suffered substantial depreciation quickly. That is my observation at this point.

 

Its when in the cycle you bought the car that matters. If you are a later buyer you will experience more depreciation. That is what is happening now. With your ownership history maybe ask the dealer to get you into a 4XX in the first year....you will most likely have no $$ downside and maybe some upside.

 

I have a 2016 GTB. Probably lost about 90k in depreciation from the numbers I’m getting from various dealers as I was debating what to do when I got my 720. Frankly I don’t care. It’s been the best 90k I’ve spent ever. I’m gonna keep the car and see what the replacement brings. But who knows what kind of games I’ll have to play at that point. Will see.

Cars are still fun for now as long as you don’t get too emotional about having the latest and greatest.