Ferrari Sales Drop 85%. Or More.
Autocar reports the TTAC-predicted cratering of new Ferrari sales. “Global sales at the Italian supercar maker have dived from almost 600 a month to just 92 cars in November and Ferrari is now negotiating with Italy’s trade unions to trim unwanted road-car production staff.” And it appears (ya think?) inventories are building-up. “Ferrari will also shut its Maranello production plant for an unprecedented 20 days over Christmas, which sources insist will be to prevent vehicle stockpiles reaching unmanageable levels.” Uh-oh? No! “Ferrari has denied that the company has been adversely affected by the credit crunch. The company said that the extended break was merely Ferrari being generous to its employees.” It gets worse…
“Insiders have confirmed that sales of the V12-powered Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and Ferrari 599 Fiorano have effectively stalled and Ferrari has moved both models into a special customisation program to mask the seriousness of the problem.”
That’s a scodella di non buono. It gets worserer. “Sales of its smaller, V8-powered Ferrari F430 – the core of the company’s volume and profit, and due to be replaced late in 2009 – plummeted after the official unveiling of Ferrari’s new California in October.”
What a difference 15 months makes… “As recently as the Paris motor show last October, Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo had been speaking of a sales target of 10,000 cars for 2010 which, even with the new Ferrari California on stream early next year, now seems wildly optimistic.”
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Is there really a waiting list? I assume you speak for the United States. I live in Mexico and there's a Ferrari/Maserati dealer 15 minutes from my house, with a bunch of Ferraris just waiting to be driven off the floor. My friend's dad actually bought one about 3 months ago. He owns a steel company or something. AFAIK he didn't have to wait 2 years or anything. You just go in, pay and leave with your car. Even if you had to wait, there are private dealerships that sell nothing but exotics and you can go in and buy one with no waiting list. And then there's the used market. Plenty of options so you don't have to wait =P
What this story also shows is that even Ferrari owners are practical people, and not generally in the thrall of handling dynamics at the expense of other criteria: "Sales of its smaller, V8-powered Ferrari F430 ... plummeted after the official unveiling of Ferrari’s new California in October.” So, it really is the badge that drives Ferrari sales, not the nature of the beast. Otherwise, a bigger, bulkier, Merc-SL-with-rear-seats wouldn't be stealing the thunder of the F430 (although I'm sure the California is still a superb-handling performance car). It also means that Ferrari miscalculated both its own buyers and everyone else's. The California, as I understand it, was meant as a conquest model, luring buyers of Conti GTs, AMG SLs, and DB9 Volantes. Now, perhaps it has done that (but not very well if sales are down 85%!), but it's also substantially poached Ferrari's bread-and-butter. The interesting question becomes: if the economy at the upper end doesn't improve, does Ferrari simply kill off the middie-8 model altogether, and stick with a front-engined coupe? Finally, this spells real trouble for a number of marques. All along in the last few years, we've heard that the upper end of the market would be immune to any trouble amongst the proletariat, but this (along with the continued slide of Maybach sales to just 9 in November) proves that the upper end is vulnerable. CoffeeJones is probably right that image and perspective play as big a role as vanishing hedge funds, but the end result is still the same. We could see the disappearance of Pagani, Koenigsegg, SSC, and Spyker.
There are also the increased number of cars turning up in the used market that are probably a factor. I get the feeling that most Ferrari owners are of the "successful lawyer or doctor" variety that own one Ferrari. There aren't too many James Glickenhauses with vast collections. So, many of them would want 'A' Ferrari, the exact model not being as important as the badge on the front. So, those people might be all over the used market.
@HighlyEvolved I live in Mexico and there’s a Ferrari/Maserati dealer 15 minutes from my house, with a bunch of Ferraris just waiting to be driven off the floor. Same here in the US. I've been to the Ferrari dealership on the Las Vegas strip (Wynn Hotel), and they have more 430 and 360's than anything. But the staff assured me that every one of their cars was previously owned and that there are simply no new cars sitting around on lots. Somebody was having his Enzo maintained, and it was up on a lift when I visited. There was also an FXX (replica, or otherwise) in the corner. The sign read, Ferrari FXX - Not For Sale