Fall in Ferrari Sales

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2008/02/20/a-fall-in-ferrari-sales/?mod=googlenews_wsj

Apparently the sales of Ferraris in January were down 22% selling only 105 cars. Is that right, only 105 cars?

 

Did you read the article? It was simply an inventory issue that was predicted.

 

Compared with 130 cars in January 2007.

I think Ferrari is so small that the number of cars they sell can fluctuate pretty easily. If the boat carrying this month's Ferraris sank, for example, their sales would drop precipitously.

However, for Ferrari the proper metric is probably orders and/or backlog. Due to the way they do things, I suspect it's difficult for them to actually track that number, but what do I know?

 

105 * 12 = 1260 cars a year, can that possibly be right?

 

IIRC Ferrari sold 5671 units last year with an average net profit of $42,000 for each vehicle.

 

Well... They reported operating profit on gross revenue, about half of which is vehicle sales.

I'd bet they just about break even on the cars themselves, in a good year.

 

January hardly a typical month for exotic car sales?

 

With such a high demand for Ferraris, I would expect most months to be similar.

 

A couple of things:

1) I'm sure the 5671 is a worldwide figure. Only about 1/3 of their units, IIRC, come to the US.

2) Production is not linear-- they don't always produce exactly the same number of cars each month. In fact, I don't think they produce ANY in August, which would mean that sometime around October, their deliveries are probably quite low. I don't imagine it would require much of a hiccup, or extra cars allocated to another region, to cause a reduction in units delivered to the US.

 

If they've sold out production for the next 18-24 months (or whatever the waiting list is), why would they car about month to month?

 

With the waiting list for certain cars, I would not worry about 105 cars sold in January.

 

I thought with the exception of the 612, Ferrari generally sell every available car on the lot - almost immediately. In fact don't they sell their cars 2 years before they are even built? So for all we know in January they only had that many cars to sell. (again, 612 excluded because apparently 4 seater Ferraris are not that hip)

 

Yes that would be for North American sales not world wide.

Joe

 

Half the country is frozen in January.

 

The backlog of new car orders adds an inertia to market fluctuations. A pertinent question might be if there has been an increase in the number of delivery options not acted upon. Anyone get an unexpectedly early delivery date yet?

 

may be the rest are sold during Christmans time

 

I would take the four seater Ferrari in stick-shift. It looks quite classy

 

There making too many cars anyway...they should cut production by 51%, and raise prices 50%

 

Let me guess. IGMFU?

 

yeah, cause all the guys that have 250 are in soup kitchens right now.

 

Your reference eludes me.

 

My dealer did tell that me 430's are showing up about one month earlier than expected. The factory is ahead of schedule for some reason.