Financial crisis hits Ferrari! Montezemolo denies it!

It is denied by Ferrari that it has been affected by the current global financial downturn, although it is in the process of laying off this week alone about 10 percent of its workers. The international sales of the Italian supercar manufacturer have plummeted from an estimated 600 a month to just 92 vehicles by the end of November and currently Ferrari is bargaining with Italy’s trade unions to reduce surplus road-car production employees.

Ferrari has acknowledged that it could lay off as many as 300 people this Friday at the earliest. It will also close down its Maranello manufacturing plant for a record 20 days over Christmas, which sources claim is for the purpose of avoiding the stockpiling vehicles which may reach uncontrollable proportions. Ferrari won its 16th F1 World Constructor’s Championship the previous month and still brags of a two-year waiting list on its pricey, limited road cars, however sources have pointed out that there are stockpiling happening in some of its distributors around the world, most especially in the United Kingdom.
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dhkss2002 - 12/9/2008 1:38:50 AM

-1 Boost

90 cars a month. It's called natural selection. Maybe they should close, on second thought, TATA should buy them out lol.

DoctorC - 12/9/2008 3:29:23 AM

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I bet they envy Honda for quitting the F1 nightmare this days.

Maybe they should analyze what Lamborghini is doing now and try to copy it's behaviour.

beetee - 12/9/2008 9:22:31 AM

+2 Boost

Ferrari started out as a racing company that made passenger cars mainly to support the habit. How different is Ferrari now? How different will they have to become, if at all?

I think it depends on how relevant road racing stays in the "new economy" that we seem to be facing. I do not know if we are overreacting to the Honda and Audi news, but I do know that a prolonged economic slump will force sponsors and constructors to look at the costs of auto racing. Considering that Ferrari was blowing upwards of $300M per season in the not-so-distant V-10 days, who can say how long they can stay immune?

dtrotter54 - 12/9/2008 8:17:08 AM

+1 Boost

Maybe our local dealer will get reasonable with their "market adjustment" pricing.

Agent63 - 12/9/2008 3:55:33 PM

+1 Boost

Not going to happen. They already have the new Ferrari California to take the entry level position.