Buy a Ferrari and wait until 2018 as V8 models push demand

Remember the time when Ferrari was an exotic automaker? It is long gone now and the Italian supercar manufacturer is actually struggling to meet with the significantly increased demand for its models.

During the Australian launch of the GTC4 Lusso T, Herbert Appleroth, CEO of Ferrari Australasia, revealed customers in some areas have to wait at least a year until they get their orders. What’s more, if you put an order for the 488 GTB, Spider, California T, or GTC4 Lusso T, your car won’t arrive before later 2018.
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TheSteve - 11/30/2016 12:44:05 PM

+1 Boost

2018 is a mere 13 (and a bit) months away. Order an Audi and it'll take you 3 months to get it. What's another 10 to get a Ferrari?

FWIW, I just visited Ferrari's website, and they still don't have any current models that catch my eye in a positive way. It was the same feeling I felt when I was looking at Lexus's website. It left me wondering, "doesn't anyone there know this isn't attractive"?

MDarringer - 11/30/2016 7:50:37 PM

+1 Boost

Moreover, if you're a Ferrari regular, the company will put you in the queue ahead of when they take orders from random customers.

mre30 - 11/30/2016 9:46:56 PM

0 Boost

Its SOOOOO silly to buy a new exotic.

If you are waiting 13 months (and likely paying a premium) for a new one - just buy one 14 months old, with 2,000 miles on it and a warranty from the carmaker for about 2/3 or even 1/2 the price of a new one.

Exotics are not really fun to live with day in day out and people tire of them quickly (which is why there are so many 'like new' ones available). Also, a subset of the buyers cannot really afford them, so they need to unload them quickly which pushes values down.

If you buy a 'pre-owned' one at 2/3 sticker, it will depreciate a little in the following 5 years but nothing like the initial 18 month hit.

Ferrari's hold value better than most - but Lambo's, Bentley's, Aston's, McLarens (they might lose 60% of their value in the first 18 months), Rollers, etc - can be had on the cheap (comparatively).

And no BS about "rich people can afford the depreciation" - sure many of their customers are "rich" relative to the rest of Americans - but many customers are the "working rich" - with a good paycheck, who pay a lot in taxes, who have a nice house, mortgaged of course, and a "dream car" they treated themselves to. Fragile financially - they can buy only one and probably shouldn't even buy the one.

Repeat exotic customers are actually pretty minimal - maybe 20% - and that's because no one needs an exotic car and they are frankly hard to live with on a daily basis.