Ferrari Australasia CEO Herbert Appleroth

AUSTRALIA has become the benchmark market for the Ferrari luxury sportscar brand and will build strongly on that position with a roll-out of new customer engagement programs, said Ferrari Australasia CEO Herbert Appleroth.

Mr Appleroth told GoAutoNews Premium that at a recent Ferrari international global dealer conference in Italy, Australia was described as an industry benchmark for the past five years.

Mr Appleroth said the accolade was the result of a combination of product, a strong dealer network and customer involvement.

“I’m happy with the dealer network and that 2019 will bring the full gambit of Ferrari’s involvement in the specialist drive-event market,” he told GoAutoNews Premium.

Events include the Targa Florio Australia tribute “which was started two years ago to give our clients the experience of driving their Ferrari in a major non-competitive, but high-performance event in a fantastic landscape”, Mr Apperoth said, followed by the Targa High Country this year and then the Targa Barrier Reef.

“Strategically, when we go into the Targa Tasmania, for example, we will do a roadshow and engage with supercar owners and potential owners the week before and the week after the event.,” he said.

“When we go to the dealership in Tasmania, we can engage with existing customers and potential owners.

“The same when we go to Targa Barrier Reef. We can engage with clients we have in sales and service. So we do a roadshow for Far North Queensland customers.”

Mr Appleroth said the location of customer events was not directly related to the location of the Ferrari dealerships.

“For the future, we will be doing a lot more activities in Noosa, for example. But that doesn’t mean we need a dealership there,” he said.

“And we are doing this around Australia. So when you’re in Port Lincoln we could run an event from our Adelaide dealer, or Byron Bay and Lismore from our new Gold Coast dealership. It could be Gosford from our Sydney dealership, Canberra from a new dealer, and so on.

“It is so important that we get owners and prospective owners involved in these activities. To us, this is everything.

“We do this because it’s the right thing to do with our product that has always been performance focused.

“We are the first supercar manufacturer to have a factory presence in Australia and we are the first supercar manufacturer to completely reinvigorate its range to suit customer needs.”

Mr Appleroth said social media was absolutely vital in growth brand presence and awareness in the current market.

“Social media is doing a wonderful job in signifying that a sports car is selfish and exuberant,” he said.

“I have watched and seen how the Australian culture is changing to the American way. Now, success and luxury and exuberance are becoming celebrated in Australia, rather than the previous eras where the Australian way was to knock people down.

“Digital media has absolutely normalised success. It’s actually changed the whole convict basis and tall poppy syndrome.

“Now success through luxury brands and the showing of success and the celebration of success particularly with the premium brands has definitely changed since the GFC.”

Ferrari Australasia is in an enviable situation where demand for its products exceeds supply but this equally has produced a frustrating position where prospective new-car owners may wait up to three years for delivery.

In many ways, the desirable Italian car-maker appears to again have boxed itself into a corner.

Despite critics warning the brand was treading water under Fiat’s control, it broke free of that corporate structure and faced even more critics as it became a publicly-listed company three years ago this week.

Financially, that was a brilliant move. The company was valued at $A1.2 billion and the shares soared from $A150 to $A205 within two years. They are now around $A146 each. Net profit in the first nine months of 2018 (the latest data available) was $A960 million, up 53 per cent on the previous period and already exceeding profit for all of 2017.

But if it can’t build more cars, it has limited avenues to increase income. Ferrari wants 9000 cars built in calendar 2018, up from 8400 in 2017. It is yet to release production for 2019.

The list of prospective buyers is increasing and with an SUV in the wings and due for launch in 2020, plus moves into hybrids, supply can only get worse.

Owners, however, rejoice in tightening demand with very strong resale values – a position enforced by Ferrari now offering an expansive seven-year free scheduled service deal and for a mere $5000, a 15 year warranty cover on the entire car.

So while Mr Appleroth is very pleased with the ownership level of the brand and the unwavering demand for the products, there is not much he can do to boost sales. But he remains very optimistic.

“We (Ferrari) are in such a good position because during the GFC, our rivals let engineers and development go,” he said.

“We kept it up. Now, after seven or eight years, there is no reason to hold up anymore and we can go ahead with new products.

“There is a big year ahead in 2019. Ferrari has announced it will spend $A1 billion on capital development which is two-and-a-half times what we have spent in 2018.

“So R&D will accelerate from now and we will have a big year ahead.”

Ferrari sold a record 241 cars in calendar 2018, up 14.8 per cent on 2017.

By Neil Dowling