Ferrari crashes highlight Asian wealth gap

There are few brands in the world that match Ferrari for mass desire. Even those who proclaim not to want one will concede their allure, but very few of us will ever even climb into one, let alone own one.

In recent times, the emerging economies of south-east Asia have given more and more people the chance to do just that. Reuters reports that China in particular has given the Prancing Horse brand plenty of reason to prance, with net profits up 10 per cent in the first half of this year alone.

But where there’s flash, there’s crash, in multiple senses of the word. The news agency has pointed to a series of high-profile crashes this year as cause for alarm for the marquee, with the rising possibility of a brand backlash.

Where’s there’s a Ferrari, there’s wealth and power. So where there’s a Ferrari crash, that wealth and power is likely to be trying to buy its way out of trouble.

Media have highlighted two cases in point. In March, firefighters arrived at a bridge in Beijing’s Haidian district in the early hours to find the road strewn with the remnants of a black Ferrari that had struck a barrier at high speed.

The male driver lay dead, his two female passengers badly injured. All had been in various states of undress before the crash, some reports added.

By sunrise, a report of the crash had turned up on the Beijing Evening News website. By 8:00am, it was gone. But it had been there long enough to spark speculation in the social mediosphere about who might have been in the car.

Shortly thereafter, all references to the crash – and even to ‘ferrari’ – had disappeared from local search engines.

Speculation was rife that the driver was the son of one of president Hu Jintao’s senior allies.

As the gap between rich and poor grows in China, it’s not easy for Communist party leaders, officially on salaries of about $US15K a year, to explain how their offspring are getting around in half-million-dollar sportscars.

The nearest thing to come up in the way of official confirmation was Ling’s subsequent demotion, which media have since consistently linked to the crash.

It’s a lot easier for Vorayuth Yoovidhya’s parents to explain how he came to be at the wheel of the Ferrari that hit and killed a Bangkok policeman, also in March.

He’s the heir to the multi-billion-dollar Red Bull energy drink empire, the seat of Thailand’s fourth biggest family fortune. It extends well past shares in the drink enterprise, to property, healthcare… and Thailand’s only authorised Ferrari import business.

The Huffington Post reported that in September, Yoovidhya’s family gave the officer's siblings a three million baht (about $US97K) “funeral fee” - sufficient to keep them from dragging him into civil litigation.

He may yet face criminal charges of causing death by reckless driving and fleeing to avoid arrest, putting him at risk of a fine of up to 20K baht ($US666). But this shouldn’t prove a problem, given the car he crashed is reported to be worth about 30 million baht ($US1 million).

More worrying for him is the prospect of up to 10 years inside – possibly more, depending on the results of forensic tests which could see him facing additional charges relating to drink driving, drug use and speeding. But, as the Huff Post mentions, “it is not uncommon for the rich and privileged to get away with crimes in Thailand.”

Reuters suggests Ferrari may absorb some of the penalty in the form of damage to its reputation. Maranello has refused to comment, but it might take a leaf out of the US National Rifle Association’s book of mantras: “Ferraris don’t kill people…”

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