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Ferrari sells to almost nobody
How Few Cars
Ferrari ships about 14,000 cars a year, roughly the number of Toyotas sold every 10 hours. Even Porsche ships 22 times as many cars. Hermes makes 10 times as many Birkin and Kelly bags each year as there are Ferraris, and 70 times as many Rolexes are made.
Porsche delivers more cars in a year than Ferrari has built in its entire history, about 330,000 in all. Ferrari builds its cars mostly by hand in a single town, Maranello, Italy, and has the highest margins in the auto industry. Ford makes 160 times as many cars, yet Ferrari is worth more than Ford, Volkswagen, Honda, Stellantis, and Mercedes-Benz.
Who Buys Them
About 80 percent of the cars are earmarked for people who already own a Ferrari, which leaves fewer than 3,000 new customers a year. Last year, approximately 81 percent of new Ferraris went to existing clients, and 48 percent went to customers who already owned several.
Why does scarcity raise a Ferrari's appeal?
Economists call goods whose demand rises as their price rises Veblen goods. When supply is kept short, owning one signals status because few others can. Luxury goods such as Ferraris draw part of their appeal from being hard to get. The term comes from Thorstein Veblen, who described conspicuous consumption in his 1899 book The Theory of the Leisure Class.
Why does everyone know a car few can buy?
Ferrari is the only team to have entered every Formula 1 world championship season since the series began in 1950. The races are broadcast around the world, so Ferrari's red cars reach audiences far larger than the group of people who can buy one. That exposure builds a brand known to people who will never own the product.
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