Ferrari wants to sell lesser units to retain exclusiveness

Ferrari currently manufactures five models (excluding the exclusive LaFerrari), which comprises of the California, 458 Italia, 458 Spider, F12 Berlinetta and FF. The iconic Italian marque brought in revenue of €2.2 billion (S$4.2 billion) in 2011, and sold up to 7,318 cars last year - a record for the company - and 50 percent more than in 1991, when Luca di Montezemolo became CEO of Ferrari.

Most automakers are trying to make ends meet - in a tough market - with diversity in product line up and mass volume vehicles. But Ferrari isn't most automakers and understands it needs to protect its brand exclusiveness than sales volume. And it's going to do just that.

"My focus this year and in the years to come is not to grow volume but to increase the exclusivity of Ferrari. This protects our margins and residual values for our customers," said di Montezemolo in an interview with Automotive News Europe.

He went on to explain profits would not be hurt even when sales figures are static. Ferrari is aiming for a profit margin of around 15 percent this year, following 14.4 percent in 2012 and 14.1 percent the year before.

A possible solution is to make its cars more exclusive and personalised through optional extras and tailor made add-ons. Di Montezemolo revealed on average, a customer adds €25,000 (S$47,738) or 10 percent of the retail price - worth of extras while Ferrari's Tailor-Made program adds up to €50,000 (S$95,477) on average.

Moreover Ferrari offers a Special Projects program which has made 10 exclusive halo cars - though only four were made public in the name of privacy. They include Eric Clapton's SP12 EC, John Walson's P540 Superfast Aperta and Peter Kalikow's 45 Superamerica.