October 3, 2008 11:03 CET
Ferrari is not feeling any effect from the global financial crisis.
The Italian sports car maker expects record sales in 2008. Its latest model, the California convertible, already is sold out until 2011.
"Ferrari sales are growing everywhere and we expect full-year results to set a new company record," Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said on the sidelines of the California unveiling at the Paris auto show
The California is Ferrari's first model with a retractable hard top. The car will go on sale in Europe in January with prices starting at 179,000 euros.
"We have already sold out the California's entire 2009 and 2010 production," Montezemolo said.
He said 60 percent of buyers who have ordered a California have never bought a Ferrari before.
Montezemolo said Ferrari will not increase the planned production of 2,500 to 2,800 Californias in 2009 and about 3,000 in 2010.
Montezemolo said one effect of the credit crunch is a decline in orders from buyers who buy a Ferrari, then sell it for a profit even before they receive the car.
"We had unacceptably long waiting lists caused by too many people who were not buying the car they ordered, but were reselling their order at a profit," he said.
"It was pure speculation – luckily now it is over," Montezemolo said.
