Ferrari Aims for 1,300 Pre-Owned Car Sales

CHICAGO – Ferrari North America Inc., which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in the U.S., expects its recently created certified pre-owned program to sell 1,300 qualified used Ferraris in 2004.

“There is a brand-new Ferrari market,” Marco Mattiacci, Ferrari North America vice president-marketing, tells Ward’s here at the auto show. “But for each new Ferrari that we sell, there is another used Ferrari. We are offering to our Ferrari customers a tool to be more loyal, to stay within the Ferrari community, to go through our official channel and our official technicians.”

The program applies to Prancing Horse models that Ferrari North America imports into the U.S. and Canada. The cars must be no more than 12 years old and have less than 60,000 miles (96,558 km).

The auto maker has 32 dealers in North America – 29 in the U.S. and three in Canada. Each dealership averages 40 new Ferrari sales annually. Ferrari North America sold 1,315 new cars in 2003, up 15% from 2002, Mattiacci says.

“This (the certified pre-owned program) was something that the dealers absolutely asked for and thought would be successful,” says a Ferrari North America spokesman.

Nearly 70% of Ferrari’s new-car sales in the U.S. are delivered in California, New York, Florida and Texas. As part of the auto maker’s 50th anniversary, it will be the featured marque at this year’s Concours d’Elegance auto show in Pebble Beach, CA.

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