The CCA Edition

The new Ferrari FF is a pretty big risk for the company; it is their first family car. Make no mistake it is a very high end family car but that is what it is being marketed as. If it works out for them this can greatly expand the market for their cars by allowing them to sell in categories they normally don’t produce cars in.  This is why the FF is so important to the company’s future.

The main reason that the FF is so important for Ferrari’s future is that it allows the company to enter into a new market. In the past Ferrari has focused exclusively on two seat cars, this does tend to limit the market for their product. By producing a car that most people will find to be more practical than the other offerings that the company has it is hoping that it can attract buyers who want to a Ferrari but need a car that has a little bit more room, particularly for passengers.

The other reason that the Ferrari FF is so important for the company is that there is definite limit to the number of cars that they can sell in one class. Certainly there is a demand for Ferraris and the company could easily sell more of them but this would kind of defeat the purpose. Part of the reason that a Ferrari is so desirable is that the number that are available is limited allowing for a level exclusivity. By expanding the line into a new class they can sell more cars without diluting the brand.

The Ferrari FF is also important to the company is that Ferrari is just a part of a much larger company, they are owned by Fiat. Ferrari are by quite a considerable margin the most profitable brand that Fiat owns and to a large extent they are relying on the FF to help keep them profitable. The reason is that while the weak economy has really hurt sales of their other brands it has not affected Ferrari. Ferrari is really recession proof as there are still plenty of very wealthy people who are looking to buy them. In order to take advantage of this they need to increase sales and they are hoping to do this by moving into a new category.

Entering a new category is a bit of a gamble in the part of Ferrari since they are going into one that is very competitive. There are a lot of very expensive high end four seaters on the market so they are going to have their work cut out for them. Clearly the Ferrari name is going to help them here but they are still taking a risk. It needs to pay off for them if they are going to remain competitive.