Ferrari Australia bullish despite slowing new car sales

Ferrari Australia believes it is well placed to continue its sales volume growth in Australia despite a slowing new-vehicle market and stagnant economic climate.

At the launch of the new Ferrari F8 Tributo supercar — a $485,000 replacement for the relatively short-lived 488 GTB — Ferrari Australia chief Herbert Appleroth spruiked the supercar-maker’s prospects Down Under.

According to the most recent VFACTS sales data, Ferrari sales are up 8.9 per cent in Australia year-on-year, against a new car market that is down 7.7 per cent overall.

“Is the environment tough? If you read the newspapers, possibly; if you look at the overall car sales, it obviously is for those manufacturers that have gone into a volume race,” Appleroth told carsales.com.au.

“Our business is very different. The overall sports segment according to VFACTS data is down 30 per cent. But then there’s an inverse relationship with the negativity [as the price bracket rises]. Ferrari’s segment, cars priced more than $200,000, the segment is down only three per cent.

“Then if you break out the true Ferrari figures, because we don’t compete at $200,000, the segment is up 17 per cent.

“In our world, things are fantastic. We’re up nine per cent on last year, and that’s just the deliveries that we can make. It’s a strong market and we’re perfectly positioned to continue that growth because we’ve seen the product plan we’ve got coming.”

Chief among Ferrari’s upcoming models is the new Purosangue SUV and a new GT model, both due in the next three years.

“Our business plan is also perfectly positioned because we always deliver less than the demand. We have a very healthy product portfolio. If the world was to tip over, we’re in the best position to handle that,” Appleroth said.

“We look at the Ferrari segment in Australia. Since 2013 it has grown from 600 cars to over 1000 cars. The market’s up 17.9 per cent year-to-date. We’ve kept up with the growth in the market purposely, but we do not want to over-deliver in our order portfolio.”

Ferrari’s growth has come in spite of the much-maligned Luxury Car Tax and new state-based tax and stamp duty measures imposed on luxury cars.

Ferrari Far and Middle East chief executive Dieter Knechtel didn’t expect the measures to have an adverse effect on Australian sales.

“This shouldn’t worry us too much,” he said. “Look at other markets around the world, Thailand has a 340 per cent tax on luxury goods there and they’re the best selling market in Southeast Asia.”