Ferrari Aiming to Reduce Sales But Increase Per Car Profit

FerrariFerrariItaly, 1947 > present233 models
5131 photos
37 videos
CEO Luca di Montezemolo is worried about dilution of the Ferrari brand. The company sold a record 7,318 cars last year, and Montezemolo wants to drop that to 7,000 cars or fewer for 2013, not counting the 499 LaFerrari units that will be built. To offset the lower sales, Ferrari wants to increase its personalization options to get buyers to add more to the price. 

"When you buy a Ferrari you buy a dream, and customers must be reassured that we will preserve that dream," said di Montezemolo. "We will slow down our manufacturing pace accordingly.

"Our growth in recent years has been driven by emerging markets. Our goal now is to aim for exclusivity. We will manufacture less, preserve the flow of cars to the market and protect secondhand markets," said Montezemolo. 

Montezemolo also ruled out any possibility of adding an SUV or sedan to the lineup and will leave that space for Maserati. 

To increase profits, Ferrari plans to grow profit margins on each car sold. Ferrari profit margins have already been on the way up with a 14.1% margin in 2011 and 14.4% margin in 2012. Montezemolo has set a goal of 15% for this year. 

Montezemolo believes that the best way to increase margins is to offer drivers more personalization options for their cars. He said that the average Ferrari buyer adds €25,000 of options and clients of the Tailor Made program add an average of €50,000.

Montezemolo even hinted that Ferrari would look for clients for its Special Projects one-off cars, but would not say how many have been built so far. Given the projects' naming scheme of starting with the SP1Ferrari SP1Italy, 2008 > 20081 photo
and the SP12Ferrari SP12 ECItaly, 2012 > 20123 photos
being the latest that we know of, we can deduce that at least 12 of these special cars have been made.

“Some collectors do not want to make their one-offs public,” said Montezemolo.

Ferrari sales have increased 50% since Montezemolo took over the company in 1991. In that time, the Ferrari range has ballooned to its larger ever with five models: CaliforniaFerrari California Gen.1Italy, 2008 > present7 versions
52 photos
, 458Ferrari 458 ItaliaItaly, 2009 > present14 versions
82 photos
8 videos
, FFFerrari FFItaly, 2011 > present3 versions
17 photos
1 video
, F12berlinettaFerrari F12berlinetta Gen.1Italy, 2012 > present6 versions
22 photos
1 video
and LaFerrariFerrari LaFerrariItaly, 2013 > present16 photos
1 video
.

Source: Autocar