Ferrari breaks its own record!

Credit crunch, what credit crunch? Ferrari has just reported a record year for sales, with 6,587 new cars sold in 2008, up 2% on the previous year, according to Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper in Italy.

The company turned over €1.9 billion last year. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said, "To get unparalleled results is the best proof of our strategy based on exclusivity, innovation and personal attention."

The USA again led the way as the No.1 market for Ferrari, with 1700 cars sold there, while China was up 22% at 212 cars.

It remains to be seen whether those figures are a high water mark for the company, certainly there were plenty of second hand Ferraris on the market in the weeks following the collapse of Lehman Brothers last Autumn.

However it underlines what a strong brand Ferrari is and what a challenge McLaren has set itself, along with Mercedes, in taking on Ferrari in the luxury sports car sector. McLaren is working on a new car, which it hopes will be ready in time for the economic recovery. It's all about brand and image in that sector and F1 is the battle ground on which much of that purchasing decision will be taken by prospective customers.

Also according to today's Gazzetta, China is now the world's number one car market with 735,000 cars in total sold in January, whereas the USA has dropped 37% to 656,000.

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