The arrogance that is Ferrari!
It is not as though everyone of us can afford to buy a Ferrari. But then there are those who can afford to buy even their limited edition but it is Ferrari who decides whether to sell it to them or not; whether the customer is “worthy” is not.
On 30th Sept, Ferrari NV unveiled its latest special limited-edition car, the LaFerrari Aperta, a convertible with a price tag expected to top $2 million. But the catch here is that it is not as though you can walk into the showroom, pay and drive the car home or maybe get the delivery a little later. You first need to be eligible to buy that limited edition and for that you first need to have bought a few models of Ferrari, which come at over $250,000. Yet, that is not a guarantee. You place and order and you get wait listed and then, could be rejected too. In fact a very rich collector, 85-year-old Preston Henn, has sued Ferrari for over $75,000 as he feels Ferrari has damaged his reputation by telling his local dealer that he wasn’t “qualified” to buy the car despite owning as many as 18 Ferraris through the years.
Ferrari handpicks customers, and they usually visit Ferrari headquarters where they get a firsthand look at plans for the limited-edition models. The entire production series is usually spoken for before the first car rolls off the production line.
In the second-hand car market, these limited edition cars sell for double the price and Ferrari has a strict rule – if you sell the limited edition within a year of purchase, Ferrari will ensure that you never, ever buy their car.
And yes, such rules and “qualifications” do not apply to celebrities.