It's interesting that the head of FNA recently said that the average new Ferrari order includes 45K of potions. McLaren is pushing this as well. It's also interesting that both are offering both "Tailor Made" and "One Off" programs.
It's pretty rare to see a Porsche that doesn't have $20-30K in options also, which is probably proportional to the difference in sticker price. The high end guys have all caught on that every feature should be offered with an upgrade option. They make 80% of the option cost (which is probably 80% gross margin), the buyer recoups 10-20% of the option cost (which is the actual COGS before depreciation), maybe less or negative if it was an idiosyncratic choice, at resale.
Manufacturer profit margins built into options has always been huge. What they make on selling you the car. Is almost nothing compared on what they make by selling you the optional equipment. Wether your buying a Caddy,Mustang,Porsche or Ferrari. Its practically a license to steal and there is certainly no lack of buyers these days. Cars that were stock used to be built with almost everything included in the base price. Now buying stock is buying bare bones and everything else costs you more money. If you want all thr bells and whistles be prepared to pay for it.
The only options I want are the invisible-to-police button and the green-light button. All else is icing on the cake! CW
The Porsche Sonderwunsch (Special Wishes) program has been around since the early 1980s. Here's one from that period. Custom paint and interior. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well, if they can make the passenger automatically fall in love with you, then definitely sign me up for #9. Along with what others have said (max revenue), I think we're also seeing this as a general trend with just about everything. Natural result of advances in manufacturing technology has enabled cost-effective customization. Kids don't even buy sneakers off the shelf anymore.
Please don't remind me.......I did them for both my 458 and MP4. McLaren is awesome about it. They must call me every week with something new that looks super cool but is super expensive. I had to tell them today enough is enough. Ferrari on the other hand I just can't say no.........its a sickness.
I personally felt the mp4 became very expensive for me because it had too many 'must have' options that reduced weight / increase performance etc whereas the 458 had lots of options I could overlook as they had no dynamic/performance benefits
Having expensive options makes the "base" price feel low Gets more people thinking they could afford it. You get excited, then kick in the nuts when you want to have the "cool stuff"
As was wrapping everything in leather, but you could get a 20%+ discount by going with the european delivery program.
Porsche have always touted the line that without options the car is hard re-sell and depreciates more. Not sure if this is correct as I see some base models sell for more and hold a higher proportion of their initial cost.
I don't think that's true. I know they encourage dealers to hit a certain target for options, however. Personally, I like it-- I can order the car the way I want it, without a bunch of extraneous stuff. If resale is all you are concerned with (first of all, don't buy a new Ferrari if that's your main concern) then order it in red/tan with whatever the hot performance package is.
If this thread is in reference to the recent Forza interview, I believe the FNA President referred to a new Ferrari purchase as a "decadent" buying decision for the customer. I would certainly agree with this. If you are dropping $300k on a car, what is another $50k in options to get exactly what you want? IMO however, there is a sweet spot for resale and options. A completely base car in five years may not be worth as a nicely optioned car (although even a base Ferrari is not exactly cut-rate). A car with a high degree of personalization however, could also be a hard sell, probably worth less than a car with less options but more of what everyone wants. You might love that new flat yellow 458 Italia with iridescent turquoise carbon fiber wheels and mulberry alcantera interior with silver stitching, but don't expect to recover any of the extra cost while special ordering. BTW, I would guess that options as a percentage of base MSRP, new Ferraris are probably lower than most marques.
Since every car on the line is built to a 'build sheet' I really can't see how simply selecting from a range of available colours (paint, carpet, leather etc) can be charged as an 'optional extra' unless it's an extra-over charge for say, metallic paint or contrast stitching. Like most here, I think the options sheet is pure marketing.
If you think about it, I'm guessing as a percentage of base price, buying most BMW and Mercedes would require a bigger percentage on options, they seem to make most stuff optional!
My girlfriends BMW 120i cab was £21000 base, but cost 27000, and we only added a couple of basics, no nav or tv or fancy engine/handling mods, just Bluetooth, leather, climate.
