Customers turned away by Ferrari end up buying Lamborghinis, says CEO

People buy Lamborghinis over Ferraris because they are far better looking.

Ferrari is indeed among Lambo's largest source of customers.

Article "[Ferrari CEO] Marchionne said...he believes those who missed to make the cut for Ferrari cars and were turned away ended up buying Lamborghini vehicles... Lamborghini connoted as a second choice to Ferrari cars..."


Couple of thoughts I'd like to offer:

(1) If someone would rather have a Lambo now than a Ferrari later, does that imply that a Ferrari ISN'T worth waiting for, rather than implying that a Lambo is a "second choice"?

(2) When I see a party sign-up sheet and know that the host will get back to me to let me know if I've "made the cut", that leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. I'd rather go to a party where I'm welcome with open arms, rather than being scrutinized as to whether I'm "good enough" to be admitted to the club. But that's just the way *I* think.

You nailed it, Steve.

The reality is though that Ferrari has always been oversubscribed when it comes to supply/demand. What else is a manufacturer to do?

Agent00R wrote "...What else is a manufacturer to do?"

Just a thought, but they could have a computerized system that lets people buy a car on a first-come-first-served basis, like virtually all other manufacturers do. Walk into a Mercedes showroom and tell them you want an AMG GT in yellow, and they'll tell you the first available (not spoken for) manufacturing slot for 2017 delivery, or they'll say "sorry, all the AMG GTs are sold out for 2017, and we can't take orders for 2018 yet."

I recognize that each auto manufacturer can do what they want, and that's fine. And if what one manufacturer ends up doing is being extremely picky about who they'll sell to -- such as a buyer who has owned a number of Ferraris already, and is of "appropriate pedigree", then some people might perceive that automaker as being elists, cliquey, etc., and might even think less of them... and might get turned off the brand.

On one hand, the brand might become known as "that elitist, old-white-rich-mans' club"... or Ferrari will sell all they make, and nothing becomes of it. Personally, I'm not rich enough (at this time) to have that problem, so I'm not losing any sleep over it.

When a competitor pokes his competition in the e4ye its usually a sign that they are worried about something and are covering it up with bravado.

One way to maintain the value of the vehicles you produce is to limit the production - something Ferrari has done for decades. VW - on the other hand - needs the money - and will produce as many Lambo's as they can sell.

This has NOTHING to do with looks - although it does show that Matt needs glasses. But then - he likes TVRs too.

It has nothing to do with Ferrari's not worth waiting for - they sell out their entire production every time - and you cannot wait to get what they will not produce. Nor does it have anything to do with welcoming customers as well - The Pieta would not be worth what it is today if there were as many made by Michelangelo as he could sell.

What it says is that Ferrari has only so much production capacity and when it determines how many of a car they will make - they stick to that number - which maintains that value for the owners who put up their money first. If you were told that there would be only 500 of an item made - and later it turned out that they actually made 1000 - you would be unhappy too.

The shame of both of these things is that few of these cars regularly see a public road - many simple are part of collections held in large buildings.

Ferrari has a reputation for being bitchy to deal with.

Lamborghini has a reputation for being VERY buyer friendly.

Rarity and value do not go hand in hand all the time.

To each his own though. The only Ferrari I really like is the Daytona, but the Lamborghini Islero and Miura (to stay in the time period) are as compelling if not more so in the case of the Miura.

I'd rather have a Gallardo or a Huracan than anything in the Ferrari stable currently.

Never had a problem with the dealers or their services from either marque, then again, I don't try to buy them new.