Used car shortage for Ferrari Australasia

FERRARI Australasia has taken measures to boost the pre-owned program it had planned to expand following stock shortages nationwide, including writing to all current owners with an offer to buy back their cars.

Speaking at the Australian reveal of the GTC4Lusso in Sydney this week, Ferrari Australasia president and CEO Herbert Appleroth confirmed that letters had been sent to Ferrari owners offering them to sell after its pre-owned program was facing a supply shortage following three-fold growth in three years.

“The growth in pre-owned has been astronomical, we’re talking from around 100 cars within the network (in 2012) to over 300 (in 2015) and it will be over 300 this year,” Mr Appleroth said.

“We have the opposite problem now where our biggest constraint from further growth is getting enough cars, and even in May we had a very special program (with) our clients advising them that their cars have never been worth as much and now’s the perfect time to please sell us your car, because we’re almost at desperate levels to try and buy the cars.

“We did a direct mail campaign to every Ferrari customer trying to entice them to sell us their car, because that’s what’s holding us back – getting enough cars.” Mr Appleroth said the Ferrari dealer network had enough demand to satisfy selling beyond the number of cars last year and targeted that again this year.

“Really our sales guys are not being sales guys they’re being buyers. They’re having to convince our clients to sell them their car. We’ve got a situation now where people are buying the 488 and we’re thinking they’ll be trading in their 458 or 458 Speciale – but they’re holding onto them.” He maintained that the pre-owned program was designed to ensure that used Ferrari models were not sold unless they achieved a high mechanical standard and that pre-owned customers would be treated in the same way as new customers, in both cases so strong resale values are maintained.

“Other manufacturers you see the dealerships run away when (buyers) come in to trade a car,” Mr Appleroth said.

“If you can control it (resale), make sure what’s on the market is the right quality, market to the public in a very fair way and professional way like they’ re buying a new Ferrari (then) that’s how the experience should be.

“The experience of owning a used Ferrari is a perfect stepping stone to buying a new Ferrari, so the experience has to be in line with that (and) that’s why we’ve got the best resale in the market.

“They (pre-owned Ferraris) are all looked after by trained technicians, Ferrari approved warranty, we don’t discriminate whether you’re a new or pre-owned Ferrari owner, you’re part of the family (and) what a great way to start.” Mr Appleroth claimed that Ferrari vehicles have the best resale values in its segment, however he admitted that V12 models generally do not hold up as well as other models in the Australian market and this would be an area of focus for Ferrari Australasia this year.

“One thing we will be working hard on with this car (GTC4Lusso) is resale values,” he continued.

“Historically in Australia resale value of V12 automobiles, not necessarily Ferrari but other models, has been quite poor. One thing we want to do, like we’ ve done in every other segment, we’re already the leader but we think we should be able to bring the same resale values of V12 GT as we are in our other range.” Global Ferrari executives have previously claimed that the internationally capped supply of 7500 new cars per year – 167 of which were sold in Australia last year – has meant that a strategic opportunity existed for pre-owned programs.

Mr Appleroth confirmed that wait times for the new 488 GTB and GTC4Lusso could each stretch to two years, while a customer could wait up to 12 months for the California T.