Why No Ferrari of St Louis? | FerrariChat

Why No Ferrari of St Louis?

Discussion in 'Midwest - USA (NE, KS, OK, MO, AR)' started by ddemuro, Dec 28, 2009.

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  1. ddemuro

    ddemuro Formula 3

    Nov 16, 2006
    2,129
    San Diego
    Full Name:
    Doug
    I've wondered this for years but after seeing a thread about the opening of Ferrari of Austin I'm prompted to ask... St. Louis is the largest metro area in the country without a factory Ferrari dealership and has more people than several metro areas that have had dealerships for years (Denver, Portland, Cleveland, Orlando, Charlotte, etc). Why is there no Ferrari dealership in St. Louis? Surely the population can support it and it's not like there's one close by... right?
     
  2. fat cab

    fat cab Formula Junior

    May 20, 2006
    931
    ST.LOUIS,MO
    Full Name:
    tim c
    the last Ferrari dealer in STL was Brentwood volvo/ferrari. but you can get a ferrari serviced at the bentley,lambo,RR, lotus dealer.Chicago has a dealer and that's not to far from STL.
     
  3. Jeff Kennedy

    Jeff Kennedy F1 Veteran
    BANNED Owner Silver Subscribed

    Oct 16, 2007
    6,546
    Edwardsville, IL
    Full Name:
    Jeff Kennedy
    Stl Motorsports is the official factory authorized Ferrari Service Center here. They are an official dealer for Bentley, Rolls Royce, Bugatti, Lotus, Lamborghini and Maserati. I have talked about Ferrari sales with the two owners and it comes down to they have tried getting the franchise to the extent that they have been told to stop asking. Apparently they have already done all the the discussions on population numbers, radius of area they would cover, income/demographics and their success with the other brands of similar price levels. There next hope was that there was to be a change of FNA person and maybe the new head would be more receptive.

    They were particularly amazed with the blocks in their efforts since it was a stated intention of Ferrari to broaden the buyer base with the California. They were telling me that there was a factory presentation imploring the dealer body to make sure they make conquest sales with the Californias beyond the current Ferrari owners. If I remember the conversation correctly the factory even made the message to hold back on sales to existing Ferrari owners so they could target the potential conquests.

    Jeff
     
  4. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 30, 2007
    91,700
    Traditionally STL has been a very conversative town, both in how money is spent by those who have it and how it is perceived by those without...so people would spend money on a Rolls or Jag, but not a Ferrari or Lambo. Although that is starting to change, I think in part due to having the Lambo dealer here.

    Also, the last Ferrari dealer here was a joke, and fell victim to the big dealer housecleaning FNA did in the early/mid 90's, with nobody stepping up to replace it until recent attempts by the Lambo dealer.

    I think the presence of Motorcars Intl and a few other major used Fcar dealers in Springfield, and two authorized dealers in Chicago, also played against us, as does KC-similar market in both size and demographics-so do you go with STL or KC? Or have two dealers in mid-sized towns 250 miles apart?

    We'll see, but I would still bet against a Ferrari dealer in STL anytime soon, particularly given the apparent tension between FNA and the local Lambo/Bentley dealer.
     
  5. rollsorferrari?

    rollsorferrari? F1 Veteran

    Jun 5, 2006
    9,984
    St. Louis
    Full Name:
    Scott
    i heard a story about the guy that had the fxx here in town, but don't know if it's true, basically he agreed to buy the fxx so long as fna put a dealership here, but that obviously didn't happen, like i said, i'm unsure if this is true or not.
     
  6. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 30, 2007
    91,700
    I doubt that is true, who knows. However, Bentley STL was an "FXX program" member along with the service center when M.G. had his FXX. pretty sure he sold it a while back though.
     
  7. ferrarifanatic25

    ferrarifanatic25 Formula Junior

    Apr 9, 2009
    873
    OC
    I have been wondering the same thing about KC. I live in an area were i see an exotic every day... if the weather is good. So there is plenty of people in town to buy them. We don't even have any sort of an exotic dealer other than aristocrat which only has four or five maseratis at a time. If KC got a dealer we could serve STL, Oklahoma, Nebraska an so on. Just a thought.
     
  8. ddemuro

    ddemuro Formula 3

    Nov 16, 2006
    2,129
    San Diego
    Full Name:
    Doug
    Very interesting - thank you and thanks to all who replied.
     

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