|
Ferrari is
at the 79th Geneva Motor Show this week with a full
range of its high performance road cars, including the
599 GTB Fiorano HGTE, making its debut, the California and
the Scuderia Spider
16M, on a luxurious stand that also celebrates the
Prancing Horse's 16th Formula 1 title by showing the successful
F2008.
The full range
of road cars is made up of the 599 GTB Fiorano finished in a
new three-layer metallic Rosso, the Scuderia Spider 16M in a
Grigio Titanio livery, the 430 Scuderia in Rosso Corsa and
the two Grand Tourer models, the Ferrari California in Nero
Metallizzato with a Sabbia interior and the 612 Scaglietti.
The latter is displayed in the Atelier, a dedicated area
where owners can get a taste of the virtually endless
personalisation options on offer to them. Alongside these
road cars on the stand comes the F1 title winning F2008 and
the prototype 599XX which is finished in the same colour as
the F1 car.
A total of 290
Ferraris homologated for road use were delivered to clients
on the Swiss market in 2008, a rise of 7.4% on the 2007
figure. Ferrari is present on that market through Ferrari
Suisse (headquartered at Nyon, near Geneva) which it has
controlled directly since 1993. Ferrari Suisse operates a
network of 10 dealerships which also offer clients an
assistance service.
In addition to
winning the 16th Formula 1 Constructors' World title in its
history and its eighth in 10 years, 2008 also saw Ferrari
delivering record results in all of the main economic
indicators. The Prancing Horse's Return on Sales (ROS) rose
to 17.6%, compared to 15.9% in 2007, while the company's
trading profit was 339 million euro, +27% on the previous
financial year's figure, all thanks to the diverse range of
products sold and strict cost-cutting measures. Revenues
grew by 15.2% to 1,921 million euro, while the total number
of cars delivered to end clients in 2008 was 6,587, an
increase of 2% on the 6,465 sent out in 2007.
Growth on
emerging markets continued also: Eastern Europe + 23% with
respect to the previous year; the Middle East and South
Africa + 12%; China +20%. North America remains Ferrari's
most important market with a total of 1,700 Ferraris
delivered there in 2008, accounting for 26% of the world
total. Sales to the other European Nations remained on a par
with those of 2007, in line with company strategy which
focuses primarily on retaining the Marque's exclusivity by
always producing a smaller number of cars than demanded.
Investments and research and development costs accounted for
18% of turnover.
Energy and environment
2008 saw the launch of an energy self-sufficiency plan that,
courtesy of an existing photovoltaic system and a
trigeneration system to be completed over the next couple of
months, will allow Ferrari to meet all of its own energy
requirements within a year. The new plants will also cut our
CO2 emissions by 25-30% in the course of 2009 alone. The new
Jean Nouvel-designed Car Assembly Line building and the New
Company Restaurant were both opened as part of our ongoing
Formula Uomo project too. More green areas were also added
both on the Ferrari campus itself and inside the production
areas.
Safety and employee-related services
Ferrari invested in excess of four million euro in safety at
work in 2008, a year in which it also extended the range of
services it offers its employees. The latter include:
special mortgage deals of up to 100 percent for first and second
homes and renovations, banking facilities with very
attractive conditions, discounts on children's and trainee
school books, a preventative medicine programme with
specialist visits, physicals for all employees and their
families, and free gym usage.
Personalisation programmes
The Carrozzeria Scaglietti Personalisation Programme was
launched in 1997 to allow clients enhance their Ferraris
according to their own needs and tastes, resulting in truly
unique cars. There are four personalisation areas: Racing
and Track, Exteriors and Colours, Interiors and Materials,
Equipment and Travel. Clients may also, however, make
special out-of-catalogue requests, as since the great Sergio
Scaglietti first began collaborating with Ferrari, Prancing
Horse cars have always been tailored to suit their owners.
Nowadays, practically every road going Ferrari to be sold sports at
least some personalised features.
Owners of
Ferrari 12-cylinder models also have a further facility at
their disposal in the new Atelier, a design studio based at
Maranello itself, in which clients really can tailor their
own bespoke dream car. Not only does the Atelier offer a
breathtaking selection of special contents, but each one of
its clients will also be assigned a trained Ferrari
consultant who will assist them with their choices. The
Atelier has been recreated on our stand at the Geneva Motor
Show. This is an area to which clients can retire to decide
on every last detail of their new 599 GTB Fiorano or 612
Scaglietti with the assistance of the aforementioned
specialist personnel. The only limit on their imagination is
that any personalisations made must not interfere with the
essential characteristics of the car or impinge on its
active or passive safety features.
Since it
officially opened just 10 months ago, the Maranello Atelier
has been involved in the personalisation of 30 cars, both
612 Scagliettis and 599 GTB Fioranos. Historic and out-of-catalogue colours, such as Grigio Ferro Met and Rosso Monza,
have proved particularly popular as have the new colour
choices available for the interiors, especially opaque
speckled surface finishes. Almost all of the clients that
opted for the latter finishes, in fact, also requested
cream-coloured stitching for the signature Prancing Horse on
the headrest.
Ferrari financial services
Ferrari Financial Services produced excellent results in
2008 on all seven markets on which it operates (Italy,
Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, United
States), achieving an average market penetration of 33% in
Europe (a figure that rises to 485 in Germany) and 34% in
the USA. Thus, over a third of all cars built and sold in
2008 by Maranello were purchased under financing contracts
issued by its own financial services company.
The average
length of the financing agreements is 40 months and the
amounts financed range from 100,000 euro to 4 million
dollars - the equivalent value of the California Spider sold
recently on the American market. The Ferrari Financial
Services portfolio also includes two Ferrari Enzos (average
value: 700,000 euro) and seven former Formula 1 cars
(average value: 1.5 million euro).
FFS offers a
choice of four different kinds of packages to cover various
categories of car: current GT range, competition, classic
and pre-owned cars, Formula 1 and small series). Each
package contains a set of specific options ranging from
financing and more traditional services (insurance or the
planned maintenance programme) to ultra-exclusive driving
courses certified by the current Scuderia Ferrari drivers.
All of the services can be customised to meet the needs of
each individual client and may also include, as is the case
with the 430 Scuderia package, driving courses designed in
collaboration with Michael Schumacher who himself
contributed to the development of that particular car.
Ferrari Classiche
This department was set up in 2006 to provide owners of
classic, veteran and historic Ferraris with dedicated
maintenance, repair and renovation services, technical
assistance and authenticity certification. Thus far a total
of 1,000 certification requests have been processed. The
certification process involves researching the original
designs of the historic Prancing Horse cars held in the
Company's own Archive which houses details of all of the GT,
competition and sports prototype cars built by Ferrari since
its foundation. Any work done on the cars is carried out in
compliance with those original designs. In all, 28 full
restorations have been carried out at Ferrari Classiche's
dedicated workshop.
2009 will be a very important year for Ferrari collectors as
the firm will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the
launch of the 250 GT Berlinetta SWB. In fact, this legendary
car will get a category all of its own in the Concours
d'Elegance taking place in Florence between May 1st and 3rd.
A fantastic 250 Testa Rossa will also be the star of the "Leggenda
e Passione" auction being staged by RM Auctions in
collaboration with Sotheby's, at the Fiorano Circuit on May
17th.
Retail activities
The programme of Ferrari Store openings continues apace.
There are now 25 Ferrari Stores in the world's leading
cities. 2008 brought openings in Singapore, Miami, Honolulu,
Johannesburg, San Francisco and at the Venice Airport. Total
revenues from Ferrari Stores increased by 16% with respect
to 2007. Other major openings are planned for 2009 in
London, Athens, Lisbon, Dubai, Bahrain, Jeddah, and
Florence. Internet and www.ferrari.com activities are
growing strongly too. Ferrari's ecommerce business burgeoned
by over 65% in 2008 while special events, such as the launch
of the Ferrari California and the unveiling of the new
Formula 1 single-seater, attracted literally millions of
hits from all over the globe.
Galleria Ferrari
The Galleria Ferrari in Maranello welcomed a record 210,000
visitors in 2008. In addition to displaying a large
selection of track and road cars from throughout the
Prancing Horse's long and glorious history, the Galleria
also staged a series of special themed exhibitions in the
course of the year. The first was devoted to the Ferrari
Magic India Discovery Tour, the second to the works of
Modena photographer Franco Fontana, and the final one to the
paintings of Enrico Ghinato. An exhibition of Gunther
Raupp's calendars, which have delighted enthusiasts for the
last 20 years, will be coming to a close too over the next
few days. The Galleria Ferrari is open seven days a week
between 9:30 and 18:00.
|
