Ferrari market share up despite lower sales

By Samuel Ee

FERRARI may be driving into lower global sales this year but its market share has jumped, with the Italian super sports car maker saying that its models now make up a third of its segment.

From the first six months of this year, Ferrari delivered a total of 3,226 cars to customers around the world, or minus 8 per cent compared with the same period of 2008.

Despite the decrease in volume, Ferrari's market share increased by over 10 points to 32.8 per cent within its segment.

Last year, the prancing horse delivered a total of 6,587 units, tiny by automotive standards.

Of those, 45 were registered in Singapore.

Amedeo Felisa, CEO of Ferrari SpA and Marco Mattiacci, CEO of Ferrari Asia Pacific were in Singapore last weekend to officially open the showroom of Ital Auto, the new distributor for Ferrari, and they were asked for their sales projection for the republic.

Mr Mattiacci declined to go into any specifics and would only say that the goal of the Shanghai-based Ferrari Asia Pacific office is to tap the growing potential of the region and maintain a high level of service.

Referring to Ital Auto, he said: "I am confident that this partnership will bring the best brand experience, services and customer care to the Ferrari owners in the region."

Mr Felisa added: "We have a lot of loyal customers. It is special for us and we want to keep them."

There are less than 300 Ferrari owners in Singapore.

Ital Auto managing director Teo Hock Seng said that his company plans to do more for the Ferrari community here by creating more drives and other activities for them.

He added: "I have spoken to many customers and most of them are happy with us and with our business culture."

Two Ital Auto mechanics went for "vigorous training" in Taiwan, which Ferrari says has the best training centre in the region and Mr Teo said that his company has serviced and repaired 32 cars so far.

Mr Teo also revealed that Ital Auto has received five orders for the Ferrari California. The convertible has a list price price of $798,000, with deliveries beginning in the first quarter of 2010. The California is expected to be followed in the second half by the recently launched 458 Italia.

For H1 2009, the Ferrari group recorded global revenues of 891 million euros (S$1.8 billion) - down 8 per cent on the same period last year - and trading profit of 124 million euros, or 24 per cent lower than the 164 million euros of H1 2008.

The interim financial results for 2009, which were released earlier this month, were "a positive result", according to the Ferrari board, because the first half of 2008 was the most financially successful year in the company's entire history.

One bright spot this year was that all the activities relating to the Ferrari brand (licensing and retail) were growing significantly, with revenues up by 22.7 per cent overall compared with the first six months of 2008. There are 29 Ferrari stores worldwide, and more openings are expected next year.

This article was first published in The Business Times.