Ferrari sales drop off a cliff

And there’s us thinking Ferrari was immune to the chaos that’s beset car makers all over the world.

It’s been revealed that Ferrari’s sales in November dropped by a colossal 85% to just 92 cars, from a normal monthly production of around 600. How can this be? Surely, Ferrari has a 2-year waiting list on the new California, and long waiting lists for the 599 and F430? Well, I wouldn’t be too sure.

Ferrari 612 Scaglietti - non-existent sales

We’ve heard that even three months ago F430 orders in the UK were drying up. When the financial mess that’s engulfed us in the last few weeks first started to bite, we were told unofficially that up to 50% of UK F430 orders had been cancelled. Now whether that was by people who were on the waiting list and were due to cough up their £30k deposit, or whether people were actually dumping deposit-paid order we don’t know. But that was ominous.

And now it seems that the stories are being confirmed, with a longer than normal Christmas break at Maranello, and 300 yearly-contract workers reportedly not getting their contracts renewed. 599 sales have stalled and Scaglietti sales, never the strongest, have dried up. Even the F430, that bedrock of Ferrari sales is struggling, in part due to the economy but also due to the launch of the Ferrari California.

Luca di Montezemolo, head of Ferrari, blamed UK Car sales:

“The only region where there are stocks is the UK,” he said.

“It’s the market where we have some problems. In the US, nothing much has changed for us apart from a slight braking of sales.”

“For sure, the F430 Spider is not doing very well, because of winter and the California, so there are stocks in some places.”

Sounds like a bit of a brave-face act to me. Watch this space, but in the meantime, if you have the means, go bag a bargain Ferrari.