Enough is enough! Bring the 458 to the USA!

Just to make you more jealous the party is just beginning this evening for UK buyers who weren't invited to Italy for the launch - and Clarkson had one at home a few weeks ago

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article6997799.ece

 

Hehe, it's on sale in Norway the same day as in Italy !

 

The rest of the world is busy beta testing the 458 for us. We get them after all the bugs have been worked out.

(where is that tongue in cheek emoticon?)

 

I've tried to block it out, like it doesn't exist. I made the mistake of asking my dealer about it again when I saw them a couple of days ago. They said something to the effect of "Have not heard much, first one may arrive this summer or maybe later, hard to say."

I said, any previews of build sheets? Any Modis code updates? No on both accounts. Technician did say that the technical information is starting to appear in the network for USA technicians. So, we have that going for us.

 

I heard this from our dealer some years ago. The thinking or speculation is that Europeans are more tolerant of teething pains than Americans so they are the test bed. The more cynical side of me thinks there might also be some fear of litigation but no one really knows except in Maranello.

Dave

 

Two points:

1. Profit margins for selling cars in Europe and the Far East are way higher then the US, therefore it’s hardly surprising that manufactures will target their better markets
2. For some reason the US market for “top end” goods has been hit far harder than in other economies. A really telling statistic is if you look at sales of the Lamborghini 670SV. Lamborghini sold more cars in London and Singapore combined than in the entire US market. There is a lot of talk that a similar situation (but not as extreme) will happen with the 599GTO. After all why is it that the European dealers have already signed up buyers for all their cars and yet the US dealers appear to not even know how many cars they are getting – simple Ferrari don’t think the US market is strong enough, so they will sell the cars elsewhere first.

 

Saw it yesterday. Looked nice but the steering wheel was on the wrong side.
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looks like the same one i saw.

not sure it is a customer's car though?

not what i was told and the seats looked well worn.