Ferrari, a name that inspires admiration and a thirst for extreme horse powers is apparently not doing so well in down under. Since the last year, the sales of the extremely luxurious and exclusive sports cars from the Italian automotive giant, Ferrari in Australia have taken a significant hit, with a total of just 104 cars being sold in one year, amounting to a sales drop of 36%. However, this hasn’t perturbed the Ateco Group, Ferrari’s exclusive franchise in Australia, that that acquired the distribution rights to the awesome sports cars in the year 2006.
Even with the slump in the luxury car market and a badly bruised economy, the defiant Ateco Group has announced the opening of a luxurious new Ferrari dealership in Sydney. As per the owner of the Ateco Group, Neville Crichton, the luxury market had been hit pretty hard, but conditions are turning around fast and the demands for high end sports cars, such as Ferrari models are increasing rapidly, with consumer, willing to invest in these gorgeous speed demons.
The new Ferrari dealership in Sydney is a five story building, that will witness its grand opening gala today with more than 500 guests. The star of the gala event will be the latest Ferrari model to hit Australian roads, the all new Ferrari 458 Italia, along with the CEO of Ferrari, Amedeo Felisa. The rebounding of the luxury car market in Australia is further empathized by the the fact that, so far more than 100 orders for the 458 Italia have already been placed and the cars with a price tag of half a million dollars ($500,000) will be delivered to the anxious owners by the mid of 2010.
According to Neville Crichton (CEO, The Ateco Group),
“Business is picking up and traffic in our expensive showrooms is very strong. Finance was a major problem — the banks just wouldn’t loan on expensive cars. That’s changed considerably over the past three months. Australia did not have the best year, but we increased our market share. We made a promise to Ferrari that we’d build the best network in the world and I think we’ve achieved that.â€
