CEO Amedeo Felisa wants the brand's dealers to do more to improve their stores
The crisis hitting the auto industry has not slowed Ferrari so far.
The sports car maker is on track to match or beat its 2007 sales record, and CEO Amedeo Felisa is optimistic about next year because Ferrari's newest model, the California, already is sold out.
Felisa, 62, spoke about the brand's future when he met withAutomotive News Europe Chief Correspondent Luca Ciferri at the launch of the California here.
Sales are dropping at most automakers. Why has Ferrari avoided the decline?
So far, we have not seen significant change in our order flow so we remain optimistic about 2008. For the future, we are carefully monitoring the situation as it remains very unpredictable
Another reason for our optimism is the important investments we made in fully renewing our product range.
Our oldest car today is the 612 Scaglietti, which is just 5 years old.
With the new California, we are expanding our range by adding a V-8 front-engine car with a retractable hardtop -- a model that Ferrari has never had in its 61-year history.
The California is already sold out for 2009 and 2010. That means someone who orders the car today has to wait until 2011?
A two-year wait is typical for new models that are in high demand from our customers. It takes 18 to 24 months for the order flow to stabilize.
What is important to me is not the fast start, but the ability to keep the volume up for the entire life cycle. For the California, it is so far, so good.
How long is the wait to get the rest of the range?
The 430 Scuderia and the 599 GTB Fiorano take more or less a year; the 612 Scaglietti takes about six to eight months.
Are you counting on the California to boost Ferrari's sales volume to 10,000 units a year?
We have never given such a target. The California will help Ferrari to broaden its appeal by attracting customers who previously looked to our competitors for such a model.
Of course, the car will help increase our volumes, but we are not planning on such massive growth during a time of such uncertainty.
Our chairman, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, always says we should offer 'Ferrari diverse per Ferraristi diversi' [Italian for: Different Ferraris for different Ferrari owners].
Time will tell how many of the California sales are conquest sales and how many of the sales come from people who would have bought a mid-engine V-8 coupe or spider from Ferrari.
How many customers does Ferrari have and how many Ferraris are still around?
We estimate that we have 65,000 customers and that there are about 90,000 Ferraris that still exist out of about 130,000 units built since 1947.
Ferrari set a new sales record last year with a volume of 6,465 units. What volume do you expect for the full year?
Similar or marginally up on last year. Do not forget, although the California is in high demand, it does not go on sale until January 2009.
The California is expected to add up to 2,800 units to your sales volume next year and about 3,000 starting in 2010. What volume do you expect by 2010?
First of all, let me say that we aren't interested in volumes. That being said, it's a very difficult to make any forecast right now.
What has driven Ferrari's growth?
Ferrari's growth in the last decade derives mainly from an expansion in the number of markets where we sell cars and a little from increasing the units we deliver to our traditionally big markets. This lets us keep the right level of exclusiveness for our products and helps us protect our residual values.
On average, how much money does a Ferrari customer spend on options to customize the car?
It depends a lot on the market and model, but it is roughly €15,000 to €18,000 per car.
That represents an additional 10 percent on a V-8 model and 7 percent to 8 percent on a V-12.
Ferrari just completed an 11-year, €200 million renovation and expansion of its headquarters and production lines in Maranello. How many people now work for Ferrari?
We are roughly 3,000 people, of which 1,800 work on road-car production, 800 are in the racing department and 300 in r&d.
What is the installed capacity at the upgrade assembly plant?
Twenty units a day.
In the second half, Ferrari reported an operating margin of 20.5 percent. That was the best of any automaker during that period and could be the best result ever for an auto company. Was this a one-time success or is there room for further improvement?
For a company like ours, where there is a significant amount of spending on Formula One racing during certain months, a quarter-by-quarter analysis is not particularly significant.
Ferrari's operating margin was 12.6 percent in 2006. It grew to 15.9 percent last year and will improve significantly this year.
Could you provide a breakdown of your revenues per sector?
Since the company was established, Mr. Ferrari only wanted to reveal how much the company was earning overall. We love to follow our founder's guidelines. Licensing and merchandising are clearly important for us and they are continuously growing. For example, the estimated retail value of all the Ferrari-brand products worldwide is about €1 billion.
Which sector is the most profitable?
In term of return on sales, it is licensing and merchandising by far.
The business accounts for 15 percent to 20 percent of Ferrari's operating profit.
We currently have 25 Ferrari stores. More than half of them are located outside of Italy.
What expectations do you have for your theme park in Abu Dhabi?
We want to expand Ferrari brand awareness to new markets and to a broader audience than just Formula One supporters.
The park will be ready in 2010, which is when the first Abu Dhabi F1 race takes place.
If this park is successful, we could expand the idea to other markets. Trust me, we are not lacking in requests.
Dealers in Europe have complained that they may lose their franchises because of tough standards demanded by the company in August after Ferrari canceled all its franchise contracts.
The cancellation was done in preparation for the new franchise contracts that will be needed to comply with the next block exemption, as the current one expires in 2010.
Ferrari has made significant investments in the past decade to completely renew its headquarters, factory and products. We want our dealers to follow us by upgrading their corporate standards to match what the new Ferrari is.
We have 80 dealers in Europe. If they want to continue partnering with us, we would be happy to continue doing business with them.
At 305.6 grams per kilometer, the Ferrari California's CO2 emissions are 27 percent below the 430 coupe's. Which areas contributed most to the reduction?
The new direct-injection engine and the new design of the cylinder heads contributed more than 50 percent to the improvement. Better aerodynamics contributed 10 percent, the new dual-clutch transmission saved 7 percent to 8 percent, while new tires and new brakes each accounted for about 5 percent to 6 percent of the CO2 reduction.
When will Ferrari offer a car that produces less than 300g/km?
Starting in the middle of next year we will install a stop-start-system on California units that will be shipped to China. Those cars will emit less than 300g/km.
For our V-12 engines, our target is to slash CO2 emissions more than over 20 percent to about 350g/km.
By 2011-2012, new Ferrari models will emit 30 percent to 40 percent less CO2 then our current range.
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