I was recently told by a friend of mine that he hated Ferrari. This had not come as a shock to me because my friend is a Ford fanboy. I assumed that he had a hatred for Ferrari stemming from the famous Ford vs. Ferrari race at Le Mans. But I was mistaken, he claimed that he hated Ferrari’s Dealership network, and how you have to buy cars in tiers, and something about how Ferrari is a membership club, and on and on and on with his complaining. But that did get me wondering, does my friend have a point with his seemingly incoherent and irrational hatred and rambling? Is there some truth to my friend’s rant? I decided to try and find out the truth behind my friend’s rant regarding Ferrari’s Dealership system.
So, the first stop I made in my internet investigation was to the Ferrari website. After all, if anyone is gonna have information on how to buy a Ferrari, it’s gonna be Ferrari. The first thing I noticed on the website (Official Ferrari website) was the amount of advertising there was for racing. They had an article covering the F1 Imola race on the front page with merchandise for the team right below it. It seems that Ferrari is still heavily involved in racing as it has always been. That is a good sign for me, as I love it when companies stay true to their heritage. But unfortunately, it doesn’t answer my question on why my friend hates their dealership system.
I saw a page on their website that interested me, it was the past models page (Ferrari Past Models: More than 70 Years of Cars – Ferrari.com), and let me tell you, if you want to see some of the most amazing looking cars in the world, look at this website. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really find anything on the main webpage for the dealership network, so I had to go elsewhere on the website. I ended up at the webpage with the current lineup of Ferraris (Line up: the Ferrari official car range 2022). Here I found a variety of cars in the Ferrari lineup, including the Ferrari 812 GTS, 296 GTB, 296 GTS, SF90 Stradale, SF90 Spider, F8 Tributo, F8 Spider, Roma, and Pontofino M. I then found a section under the lineup called the special series; the special series had more cars including the Ferrari 812 Competizione, and 812 Competizione A. I then scrolled down to find the icona series, under this series there was the Ferrari Daytona SP3, Monza SP1, and Monza SP2.
Ferrari Daytona SP3 (credit: automotivpress.fr)
After seeing all this, I then became curious again, why is there a lineup, special series, and icona series. It then dawned on me that this might have been the tier system that my friend was referring to. I then clicked on the Ferrari Daytona SP3 to learn more about it, (Ferrari Daytona SP3 – Ferrari.com), it advertised the racing history of the original Ferrari Daytona, as well as making the bold claim that this car embodies the same spirit as the one from the past. I then proceeded to the configurator, (Ferrari Official Car Configurator). Once at the configurator, I selected the red Rosso Magma for the outside color, changed the interior color to red as well, I then hit the summary button to be greeted by a list of options. I was given the option to download a brochure of the car, send it to a dealer, or to save my configuration. I was not given any further information regarding the “tier system” which my friend was referring to, as I was able to instantly go to the last tier on the list and configure a car of my choice with the option of sending it to a dealer. Unsatisfied, I go where everyone should go to find a precedent to predict the future. I began looking into Ferrari’s history and came to find that Ferrari has limited the number of people who could buy their cars before. Such as with the Ferrari Enzo, with 400 being built, and 399 were sold to a few pre-selected customers. Another case of this small number of cars being built was with the Ferrari F40, with only 400 planned on being built, this number later increased to 1,315 cars being built. So Ferrari has regulated the amount of cars built, as well as who they have sold them to in some cases. But according to an AutoEvolution article, titled “The Strict Rules of Ferrari Ownership: You Don’t Choose, Ferrari Chooses You,” the point is made clear that Ferrari seems to be a club almost. With the owners of such cars seeming to be grateful to be allowed into this elite club.
According to the article, if you try to buy a Ferrari, you go through a background check. Standard enough, right? After all, if you don’t have good enough credit to buy a Corolla, you certainly can’t afford a Ferrari. Ferrari however goes a step further, looking into your driving history, making sure there are no notable incidents, and according to rumor they sometimes look for people over 40 as well. Another thing this article brought to note was to always read the terms and conditions before buying a Ferrari. Ferrari likes to keep control of its cars, even if someone already bought it. Ferrari goes so far as to make the owner inform them if they are selling the car, as well as barring the owner from selling the car within the first year of ownership. Ferrari also does this because they would like to have the option to buy back the car if the owner wants to sell it, as well as to make the people go out and drive their cars, instead of being showoffs. It does make sense, since Ferrari makes some of the best performing cars in the world. If I made some of the best performing cars in the world, I would want to see people driving it, not keeping it in their garages.
Lamborghini Badge (credit: publicdomainpictures.net)
According to the same article, the Ferrari vs. Lamborghini rivalry is still going on today, and some reports state that Ferrari will keep those who own Lamborghinis off the list for the limited edition/VIP cars. If you happen to buy a Ferrari you can’t cover the badge, or put a wrap on your car, or really any other modifications. All repairs and maintenance also has to go through Ferrari, or your warranty will be canceled by Ferrari. As you can imagine, limiting the ability of customers to modify and maintain their cars without the explicit permission of the company can be very frustrating. Also, if you badmouth the Ferrari brand, you could end up on a blacklist. Leading more to the reason why my friend dislikes the Ferrari brand.
Overall, I understand my friend’s point after a bit of research, but I still love Ferrari. They may have an odd way of doing business, but their cars are some of the most beautiful in the world. Especially their older ones. Also, Ferrari seems to be heavily involved in racing, which stays true to their heritage. And as I stated before, I absolutely love it when companies stay true to their lineage. Thank you for reading this, and please let me know if I missed anything, or made a mistake.
Published in Thoughts and Takes
I am a big fan of how Ferrari do business, I think all high end car brands need this kind of system to keep their brand classy and their cars in good condition. Rolls-Royce and Bentley used to have a similar system but now they don’t you see all sorts of horribly specced cars. The background checks in particular is a very good idea because it keeps bad drivers out of their cars which protects themselves and other people.
I understand why they do business, and I do agree with you. But I can see why my friend doesn’t like it.
the problem is very simple. say, when lamborghini reveals a new car, it;s here to stay for the best part of at least five years, same can be said with rolls royce, mclaren, buggati and other luxury and high performance car makers, however, with ferrari, they so often replace their cars- and so we don’t get… um… attached to ferraris, so in other words we would not mourn (not really, but yeah) the end of production of a ferrari model unlike what we where like when the aventador ended production, which was sad. so really, that’s why people don’t really like ferraris, i guess
That is a very valid argument I will admit, but it wasn’t the reason why my friend hates them. Although I do agree that if Ferrari had cars which lasted longer throughout the years there would be more of an attachment to them from the community.
” According to the same article, the Ferrari vs. Lamborghini rivalry is still going on today, and some reports state that Ferrari will keep those who own Lamborghinis off the list for the limited edition/VIP cars.”
I think this is kinda false because there are plenty of rich collectors out there who own limited edition/VIP Ferraris but they also have a couple of Lamborghinis.