Entry level Ferrari

Would probably canabalize other Fiat production.

 

Merely sullies the marque like the horrible entry models of BMW and MB. Junk, both. I doubt Ferrari wants to pander to the tattooed loser crowd.

 

I think they have $50k entry-level Ferraris. They are called Mondials and 348s

But seriously, as said above I don't think I would want the 318i or CLA250 equivalent with a Ferrari badge. It would probably just be a rebadged Alfa anyway. For that matter, you could argue the 4C is the entry-level Ferrari with an Alfa badge...

 

This comes up every now and then - for example taking a slightly different approach http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/ferrari-discussion-not-model-specific-sponsored-algar-ferrari/463193-ferrari-going-down-market.html

There was much discussion around the time of the introduction of the California and its inter-action with potential Maserati sales

Also http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/ferrari-discussion-not-model-specific-sponsored-algar-ferrari/22530-return-dino.html

And http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/ferrari-discussion-not-model-specific-sponsored-algar-ferrari/333396-will-ferrari-ever-have-entry-level-model-again.html

 

Yes, it's called a Maserati with a V-8, as discussed in the many other recent threads on this subject.

 

Yeah, there are so many cheap Mercs and BMWs out now that I'm getting badge fatigue.

The CLA in particular...

Zero chance Ferrari would do that. Hopefully Alfa can fill that slot.

 

I did a bit more research and indeed Ferrari does offer a brand new entry level car. Initial reviews said the interior and exterior are rather plasticky.


Ferrari California - Ferrari Store

 

You do realize that Kia is selling 40K sedans all day long, and that a hot rod Charger is higher than your 50K? Why would you want a Ferrari to sell a car that costs less than a high-end Mustang?

 

I guess any thing is possible with SM, but if there were an entry level it would start at well over $125K imo. There simply isn't enough profit in a $50K car.

 

True, I think some people haven't been to a new car showroom in the last 10 years.

$50K barely scrapes into the bottom end of the pseudo-luxury market.

 

Nice idea.

However, I think it would be more probable for Ferrari to come out with an entry $125K model to do battle with Porsche 911.

Do away with the manattino (etc) to lower costs and provide a MT too please.

 

The "gateway drug" to Ferrari has always been provided by other manufacturers. It should always be that way.

 

Entry level classics: Mondial, 348, 208.

Current entry level Ferrari: California.

Budget thrill seeker: Maserati.

Kind regards,

Nuno.

 

McLaren will make an "entry level" car at around the same price as an 911.

Perhaps Maseati will make a new Merak with a hybrid v6 rather than dillute the Ferrari brand

 

Alfa 4C.....I already have my first F-car (355), but I still kind of want one.

 

Ferrari could not produce a car at that price level using their existing plants.

 

How about a $175k turbocharged V6 Dino, mid-engined, and with very few options available. This could fill the gap between the 7000 cars currently produced and the anticipated 10,000 cars per year.

 

This was partly the reason of the fallout of LDM and SM at FCA. $50k USD wont happen, you're probably look at the $120k mark.

 

read up on Euro 6 & 7 emissions standards :
European emission standards - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

California is a benchmark for emissions standards at the rate things are going you will see more EV + Forced induction cars from euro mfg. Ferrari is all about the prestige and the "SOUND" so this will present an interesting challenge to Ferrari and how cars will be sold and marketing.

 

Given the costs of bringing a new design into production there's no way a production run of 3K at that price level would make money. Any Ferrari selling at that price point would need to be at least 90% another existing car.

 

Hmmm... Like this:

Driven: Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari - PistonHeads
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This approach has already been tried by Aston Martin with the model "Cygnet" in a cooperation with Toyota (base model was the Toyota IQ).

After two years of production, Aston Martin stopped the production of this car. The Cygnet was cancelled due to disastrously low sales, the car reached only 150 units in the UK and the target was 4000 units.

Such a wide diversification of the product range makes simply no sense.

But a further Ferrari "entry level product" next to the very successful California with an exact positioning, why not. Or why not a Maserati Alfieri with over 500hp positioned as a "Ferrari gateway drug"? Ferrari needs economy of scale, the entire FCA group needs economy of scale. New developments becomes more and more expensive and attracting new clients is becoming increasingly complex.

Sergio Marchionne is forced to think beyond the boundaries, especially with his flagship Ferrari, he must do what LdM was not able to do.
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Now would be a perfect time to bring out the Dino brand back...

Alfa 4c tub, 2.5 V6 turbo with 450 hp. Manual gearbox (optional?), steel brakes (cost reasons).

~€100K. I think they would sell very well...

 

The idea of the Cygnet was not to give Aston Martin an entry level car.

The EU has brought in legislation to try to force car manufacturers to produce cars with lower emission levels that are sold in EU states.

The legislation sets a limit for the average emissions allowed across a manufacturers entire range of cars and there are hefty fines for going over this average limit.

This legislation plays a big part in why manufacturers are suddenly producing hybrid cars, electric cars and ultra efficient/low emission engined cars (some of which have put the needs of achieving low emissions way above the needs of producing a car that is actually a useable vehicle!: Some of these cars can barely pull themselves along, and if you meet a hill then you'll need to push the car up it because they do not produce enough power to drive up them!).

As it turns out, the demand for these cars has increased dramatically because of high fuel prices, so the manufacturers are finding it very profitable to manufacture them.

For companies such as Ferrari, they are included under the FIAT umbrella (for the time being!), and so FIAT's lower emission cars counteract all of Ferrari's high emission levels, meaning that they remain within the average emission limit.

Aston Martin however, do not fall under a larger manufacturers umbrella and all of their range break the EU emission limits by quite some margin so they were facing a massive fine.

To get around this problem, they needed to produce a low emission car to counteract the rest of their range but didn't want the expense of designing, developing, tooling and manufacturing such a car.

They read the legislation very carefully and discovered that if they took another manufacturers low emission car and did X-amount of work modifying it, then it would be classified as being a part of their range. This resulted in the Cygnet project.

Next came the problem of selling the idea to the public.

BRAINWAVE!: Sell it as an accessory! Buy yourself an Aston Martin and get the little lady an Aston of her own to do the shopping in, to go to the fitness centre in, to visit friends in.

The problem was, hardly anybody wanted to spend £32K on a re-badged Toyota and the car was seen as a bit of a white elephant.

This wasn't the disaster that it might have been though because the legislation covers the average emissions of the manufacturers range, not the cars in the range that were actually sold.

Had it not been for the EU legislation, Aston Martin would never have even considered making the Cygnet.


The sting in the tail of this EU legislation is that the average emission limit is set to be lowered over a regular period, and the fines for exceeding these limits is set to increase at the same time.

This means that for manufacturers such as Aston Martin (and now Ferrari), their future options will be to either to produce lower emission cars, create more projects along the lines of the Cygnet (which Aston Martin has already shown is not ideal), or raise their prices to cover the costs of the fines (which is far too impractical as the price would rule out almost all of their sales!).

This is one of the major reasons why the likes of Ferrari are now looking at hybrid technology, and it's a major reason why the days of the large capacity, normally aspirated/non-hybrid V12's are pretty much over!