New lease of Aussie life for Ferrari
BY NEIL MCDONALD | 29th Nov 2005
It has specifically created a sales unit to target the emerging wealth in the region, capitalising on one of the fastest-growing markets globally.
According to the new Ferrari sales and marketing director for the region,Mario Micheli, the region, including Australia, will become more importantin meeting the company’s strategic goals.
Apart from Australia, Mr Micheli is also responsible for Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Brunei and the Philippines.
In Australia last week for the Ferrari-sponsored Classic Adelaide, Mr Micheli said that despite the cultural diversity of the region, prospective Asian buyers understood the company’s philosophy of building genuine sportscars.
He pointed to the fact that many wealthy Hong Kong-based Ferrari owners preferred to drive their cars rather than opting for chauffeurs.
"We have customers who just want to add a Ferrari to their garage," he said.
"But we also have some customers genuinely passionate about driving Ferrari, some of whom drive up to 30,000km year."Last year Ferrari sold 660 cars in the Asia-Pacific region, about 13 per cent of the factory’s global sales of 4975. In the same period it sold 42 cars in China, a figure that has almost tripled this year alone, with strong interest in the 612 Scaglietti.
Mr Micheli said the challenge of expanding into the Asia-Pacific region was to maintain the marque’s high degree of exclusivity.
About 30 per cent of all Ferraris are exported to the United States andseveral models have long waiting lists. For example, there is currently a 12-month wait for the 12-cylinder 575M Maranello coupe.
Although reluctant to put a figure on prospective sales targets, Mr Micheli said China could become a significant player even though the US, Germany and Italy would still represent the bulk of sales.
China is expected to become the fifth or sixth-largest world market over the next few years.
Ferrari is opening more dealerships and currently has 10 throughout the country.
The supercar-maker, like other luxury marques, aims to drive sales as growth in the Western markets plateaus.
"In China for the past 11 years we sold 10 cars and this year we’ve sold 60," he said. "The Chinese buyer understands the Ferrari philosophy."China has an allocation of 90 Ferraris this year. Mr Micheli said Ferrari believed it was time to build a different focus in the region "because we do believe there is a huge potential there that’s not been really understood".
The general manager for Ferrari in Australia, Kevin Wall, said he was looking forward to the marque playing a greater role in the region, which in turn would mean the Italian car-maker would look at specific ways of leveraging the brand in Australia.
Mr Wall said Ferrari’s involvement in the Classic Adelaide rally, an event that is growing in stature internationally every year, was one way to broaden its footprint. This year more than 300 competitors took part.
In October, Ferrari opened new dealerships in Sydney, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo as well as the Chinese cities of Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xiamen and Beijing.
Ferrari is now represented in 52 countries and exports 90 per cent of the cars it builds.