According to Benedetto Vigna in an interview with CNBC, 30% of new clients are under the age of 40. This is a fairly large share for a brand that has long had an image of cars for “old money”. This brand, like others, does not know the crisis and takes full advantage of the “new rich” and the “globalization of millionaires”. At Lamborghini, the average age indicated is 45, which also proves the youth of a large part of the buyers.
We were talking recently about the women who represent more and more Ferrari buyers in China. This is therefore accompanied by the rejuvenation of the new owners. This 40-year mark seems important for luxury sports brands and SUVs (sorry, the Purosangue is not an SUV…) play their full role in this movement.
But, Ferrari does not want to be a “fashionable” brand, at least not officially. In fact, Ferrari is doing everything to please these new millionaires who appear on social networks with their cars by offering them more and more advanced customizations. Without forgetting of course the more and more important powers, but also cars more and more “crushed” electronically to (too much) avoid being displayed by planting the Ferrari at the first acceleration. It is certain, an SF90 Stradale is not an F40 and it does not appeal to the same buyers.
Brands that preserve their “exclusivity”
Ferrari like Lamborghini or some other brands have rich problems. They make huge margins. Ferrari exceeds €90,000 in profit per car sold in the first half of 2023! And are not in such a hurry to break volume records. Yet they could. Ferrari voluntarily limits sales and production following the adage “what is rare is expensive”. In the first half of 2023, Ferrari still delivered 6,959 vehicles.
To compare, in 2010, Ferrari sold 6,573 vehicles over the full year! Analysts estimate that Ferrari, like Lamborghini, could sell for double the current figures. Enzo Ferrari had the adage of “always selling one car less than the market demands”.
This relative “rarity” is also what maintains the image of the prancing horse brand, or of its best competitor, Lamborghini. It maintains the desire, and the will to put a lot of money in a car. Porsche, for its part, managed to become a very widespread brand with the Cayenne, then the Panamera, the Macan, etc. while keeping the exclusivity of certain 911 models.
Here again, the clientele is getting younger, but both by opening up the range “downwards”, and by the exclusive models that millionaires under 40 want to afford. They are also the ones who are customers of Mansory and other more or less tasteful hackers of prestige brands.
Our opinion, by leblogauto.com
This rejuvenation of the clientele of Ferrari or other brands does not necessarily appeal to “purists”. These famous purists, often elderly, who feel alone to have the legitimacy to own one of the cars of these brands. They take a dim view of these new rich who, moreover, tend to have “footballer tastes” (who are among the many new customers, by the way).
Except that the purists are very nice, but they don’t do all the “new” volume of Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, etc; France has some of these “new millionaires” who are looking to ride in a luxury sports car. But the 2.8 million millionaires in France (recent figures) are above all through real estate assets and not available cash as is often the case in the USA or China. It is no coincidence that China is becoming a very, very important market for Ferrari. And that, Enzo had not foreseen, for sure. Yet red is a color that suits both parties.
