Fiat opens Ferrari/Maserati China Showroom

Fiat Opens Ferrari Maserati China Showroom



Retail Price 3 Million Yuan


SHANGHAI, June 5, 2004; Ben Blanchard writing for Reuters reported that Italian car maker Fiat's ultra-luxury unit Ferrari Maserati on Saturday opened its first showroom in China, where it expects 2004 sales to double to some 200 units, about five percent of total capacity.

Ferrari is looking to growth in China and other emerging economies like Russia to offset a slowdown in sales in traditional markets such as Western Europe and the United States, which now account for 30 percent of global sales.

"The bad exchange rate between the dollar and the euro does not make life very easy for us," Ferrari General Manager Jean Todt told a press conference. "That is why it is very important to have new markets like China."

Ferrari, which only came to the Chinese market in 1993, is also eyeing 10 new dealerships in China over the next few months, hot on the heels of German arch rival Porsche AG , which unveiled its first showroom in Shanghai last year.

The opening ceremony was preceded by a procession of 70 Ferraris and Maseratis flown in from all over China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia down Shanghai's historic Bund riverfront.

Porsche said last year it hoped to sell 150 cars in China in 2003.

The company hopes to sell 60 Ferraris in China this year, while the rest will be Maseratis.

Ferrari had planned to send its chairman, Luca di Montezemolo, to the event, which is followed on Sunday by the official opening of Shanghai's F1 race track, but his recent appointment to take over the running of troubled Fiat meant he was unable to come.

But the average man on the street in Shanghai, China's richest city, will never be able to afford even one of the relatively low-end Maseratis, which go for some 1.6 million yuan ($193,300).

The Ferrari 612 Scaglietti will retail in China for a cool three million yuan.

The company makes no bones about who it is appealing to in China.

"Our target is rich people," Antonio Ghini, head of Ferrari's brand management team, told Reuters, as flocks of Chinese milled around forcing bemused children to pose for photographs in front of the predominantly red cars.

"We don't push ourselves too much," he said outside the new showroom, which lies within spitting distance of Shanghai's old colonial-era race club. ""We limit our production."

And with global auto giants like Volkswagen AG and General Motors Corp investing billions of dollars building car factories in China, will Ferrari ever consider doing the same?

"It's like Italian food and Italian fashion," the elegantly-dressed executive said. "It's something that can only be produced in Italy."

The 612 Scaglietti Maranello
Often, the tags given to Ferrari cars have a name as well as a technical reference. It comes from the place where the car originates from, like Maranello or Modena, or perfectly suits the excellence of the model, as in the name `Enzo Ferrari´ being used on the limited edition series inspired by Formula 1.

Now, Luca di Montezemolo has felt the desire for another name to be linked to the conception of a new model: Sergio Scaglietti. Scaglietti was a master in working aluminium and the creator of some of the most famous Ferrari models. He worked alongside the founder of the company in the heroic early years that brought the first global successes.


The elegant new model is constructed entirely in aluminium. It seats four adults comfortably and boasts excellent performance. It is the 612 Scaglietti, following Ferrari tradition.


The 612 Scaglietti is the perfect combination of the pure performance of a sporty Ferrari berlinetta and a cabin that can seat adult passengers. For the first time ever on a 12 cylinder Ferrari, the construction is all-aluminium (using space frame design for the chassis and bodyshell).


The model was built by Ferrari in the Scaglietti workshop dedicated to light alloy technology. The 612 Scaglietti´s innovative aluminium structure brings heightened levels of comfort, drivability, and provides the maximum crash protection for the occupants.


The engine is positioned centrally in the rear (set behind the rear axle) and the gears and rear differential in a single block for the maximum recession and lowering the centre of gravity, with evident benefits on the dynamic behaviour of the car. The 12-cylinder 65° V-engine is the fruit of cutting edge Ferrari engine technology.

 

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