Dealerships, Free Access Articles , , ,

FRESH from forging an alliance between Ferrari Financial Services and Macquarie Leasing Australia to provide a wide range of bespoke funding products to Ferrari owners, Ferrari Australasia has embarked on a test marketing exercise to assess guaranteed buyback leases for its buyers.

Ferrari Australasia CEO, Herbert Appleroth, told GoAutoNews Premium: “We are exploring for the first time guaranteed future values. We have done some initial modelling and there is a very good chance that we will be launching this onto the market.”

Asked if guaranteeing resale values was a risky endeavour, Mr Appleroth said: “We know our product better than anyone else. I mean it is one of the best investments you can ever make.

“Certainly we have the highest resale values of any brand in the car business so that is something we are exploring right now.”

He said that an independent finance company would not know enough about Ferrari to be able “to attempt something like that”.

“This is actually a unique product within the Ferrari world because Australia has some of the highest resale values for Ferraris anywhere in the world.

Ferrari Portofino

“So this is something we are wanting to trial here in Australia because of these unique values, which we value enormously and work very hard to maintain. So I think this is going to be a real game-changer – certainly within the Ferrari world.”

Mr Appleroth said Ferrari Australasia relentlessly pursued high resale values that were a core focus within the company.

“We stand by that because that is our core DNA. Enzo Ferrari always said that he would supply one car less than what the market demanded,” he said.

“It goes back to the brand ethos of exclusivity. Exclusivity is key. We don’t all of a sudden increase our production by 100 per cent just to meet the market.

“We are always under the market when it comes to supply and that exclusivity helps to focus on resale values.

“And we are true to our word. The demand for the product has never been higher and demand is certainly higher than you are seeing in the delivery numbers in VFACTS.

“There is to be no stock of Ferrari in the dealership and our cars are so hotly contested that we find that our network even sells the demonstrators so that our customers cannot even see our cars.

“So we will continue with that policy for sure,” Mr Appleroth said.

“The other element in the resale value matrix is that if your car is popular when it is new, and it is the best car on the market when it is new, then it should also be the best car on the market when it is used.

“If those cars are then kept to the manufacturer’s levels of maintenance requirements then you would expect the quality of that car to be high and so should the price.

“So our standard seven-year maintenance program on all new Ferraris means that the cars are being maintained and repaired by experts who are factory trained with factory-approved parts for at least seven years.”

Ferrari GTC4 Lusso

“So you know that the standard of the product is going to be higher than anything else on the market.”

Mr Appleroth said the third pillar to the residual matrix was a focus on pre-owned sales.

“One of the major KPIs of our network every year is their percentage of pre-owned sales. We enforce a focus on pre-owned cars with our dealers just as much as with new Ferrari,” he said.

“That means that the cars that enter the pre-owned market are hotly contested within the Ferrari network and when competitive spirits are interested in the one car then of course the price of that car will go up. That can only benefit customers because their cars are worth more.”

Mr Appleroth said that the ratio of new to used in Ferrari dealerships was about one-to-one.

“You will never see that in any other brand in Australia and we are planning quite strong activity in the coming months to grow that further.

“Our greatest restriction on pre-owned sales is to get stock and our dealers are constantly on the phone to our customers to exchange what they have in their garage.

“But Ferrari owners are getting more of an appetite for collecting – not just one car but multiple cars. So our dealers are constantly on the phone to buy pre-owned cars from our clients from their collections, or perhaps a car they are not using as much, simply to increase the level of stock and meet the demand that we have from people who want to enter the Ferrari network.

Ferrari California

“Of course, pre-owned sales are one of the most effective ways of bringing someone into the Ferrari family – particularly when you have such a long waiting list on a new Ferrari.”

Ferrari Australasia has seven dealers in Australia and New Zealand. Another will be added on the Gold Coast in June with an additional dealership on Sydney’s north shore at the end of the year.

Mr Appleroth said the increase of the dealer network footprint was to largely drive pre-owned sales increases as well as “improving the level of engagement we have with our clients with sales staff”.

He said that with more workshops and with more technicians Ferrari could build a better relationship with its clients, create more timely service bookings as well as additional pre-owned display space.

“When you are bringing so many clients with older cars back into the official network you need the capacity and that had been what we have been struggling with. Of course it is a good problem to have but we are addressing it.”

Mr Appleroth said that Ferrari owners having personal contact with technicians was basic to the brand.

“Being a Ferrari owner is like being a member of a family and these cars are held very dear to their owners and trust in the technicians is a very important thing.

“We have technicians who have been looking after the same client for 20 years. Not unlike a family doctor,” he said.

By John Mellor

Manheim
Manheim
Gumtree
Manheim
Gumtree
AdTorque Edge
PitcherPartners
DealerCell
MotorOne
Schmick