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Pimp your Ferrari the right way
Design: Ferrari will pay for a customerâs first visit to Maranello in Italy to the carmakerâs workshop as a bonus for their purchase
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span class="inline inline-center">Design: Ferrari will pay for a customer's first visit to Maranello in Italy to the carmaker's workshop as a bonus for their purchase.
Not everyone can afford a Ferrari and for those fortunate enough to buy one, the Italian luxury car manufacturer has introduced a tailor-made program to provide more exclusivity for their customers.
Ferrari introduced the tailor-made program globally in 2010. Not everyone has been aware of this program and therefore, PT Citra Langgeng Otomotif, as the official Ferrari distributor for Indonesia, formally presented it in a recent press conference in Jakarta.
'The tailor-made program is different than a regular customization provided by Ferrari to their customers,' Citra Langgeng Otomotif Sales Manager Reinhard Jacobus said.
'Under the tailor-made program, customers will have to fly directly to Ferrari headquarters in Maranello [Italy]. There, a personal designer will accompany the customers to customize their Ferraris according to their personalization taste,' he added.
Reinhard said that Ferrari would pay for customers' first visit to Maranello and accomodation in Italy as a bonus for their purchase. If customers want to visit more than once Maranello for customization, then they will have to pay their visits and accomodations on their own.
'Usually, a customer only needs to spend a day with their Ferrari personal designers to choose materials, paint colors and concepts for their cars,' Reinhard said.
Starting this year, Reinhard added, customers who applied for the tailor made program could also fly to Shanghai to meet their personal designers and started working on the personalization of their cars.
'The work for the customization will still be completed in Maranello,' Reinhard said.
There are three types of customization for the tailor made program and they are scuderia, classica and inedita.
The scuderia customization is a type of personalization that pays homage to Ferrari's long history and success in racing. The options available for this customization include carbon-fibre trim, microfibres, matte metals, kevlar and chamois leather.
The classica customization features a classic look on modern Ferraris. Customers can use vintage pastel colors that became a trend in the 1960s, old school leather design and even velvet for the seats. Chromed elements are also a main part for this customization to provide customers' Ferraris with even more classical look.
Finally, the inedita customization aims to introduce out-of-the box styling. This type of customization provide rooms for customers to be experimental such as installing denim materials on the seat and unique color tones.
Reinhard said that customers could also mix the three types of customization.
'For example, it is possible for a customer to customize his Ferrari to utilize the scuderia concept for the exterior and classica for the interior,' he said.
During the conference, Citra Langgeng Otomotif exhibited a Ferrari 458 Spider tailored under the scuderia concept as a demo for what customers might be able to expect should they opt to participate in the program.
The exhibited car exterior was in bright yellow racing color with two black trims on the middle. The interior featured a sporty hand woven seats in black and yellow. A main customization of the car also includes a carbon matte layer on its body kit and bumpers.
'Most of the interiors are hand made. The most costly element for this customization is the matte carbon which costs around US$55,000 in total,' Reinhard said.
The car itself cost about $850,000 and using the customization, the total buying price for the car could reach $910,000.
'A tailor made customization costs $100,000 minimum,' Reinhard said.
The complexity of a customization also determines the time needed by Ferrari to complete a customer's demand for a tailor made car.
'This type of scuderia customization needs around six months to be completed,' Reinhard said.
Citra Langgeng Chief Executive Officer Arie Christoper said that the scuderia customization was the most favorite among Ferrari owners in Indonesia.
'Since the introduction of the program in 2010, four Indonesians have participated. Three customizations had been completed while one is still being processed. All of them used the scuderia concept. Indonesians like racing stuffs,' he said.
Although the tailor made program allows customers to personalize their Ferraris in accordance to their taste to make their cars more exclusive, there are limitations ' both technical and non-technical ' that they should comply.
Reinhard said that customers will not be able to tune up their cars in terms of technical aspects, such as changing the type of engines, adding body kits and spoilers for more aerodynamics or working with the car's original safety features. This makes the tailor made program to basically focuses on the car aesthetics rather than tuning it up.
'It is always possible to customize a Ferrari's technical aspects in other unofficial customization services but once this is done and Ferrari finds out about it, then the customer will not be able to use our warranty if anything happens to their cars,' Reinhard said.
From the non-technical aspect limitations, Reinhard said that although the program allowed customers to personalize their cars based on their taste, they had to also respect the Ferrari's core values and traditions which centered on elegancy, luxury, sporty and elegance since its inception in 1929 by Enzo Ferrari.
'For example, we cannot allow customers to put a Hello Kitty paint job on a Ferrari or put diamonds all over the car's body, even if they have the money for it. That will reduce the value and image of Ferrari. The brand Ferrari is more than just about money,' Reinhard said.
'This is why we assign a personal designer to accompany customers in personalizing their Ferraris. The personal designer's job is to give inputs to customers on how to get their personalization needs without reducing the value and image of Ferrari,' he added.
Ferrari is well known to apply strick limitations to their customers and potential buyers to keep its brand highly exclusive. For some of Ferrari's limited supercar models, the manufacturer even prohibits anyone who has yet to collect at least three Ferraris from purchasing.
Reinhard said that the only requirement for the tailor made program was that it could only be accessible by customers who purchased a brand new Ferrari.
'Customers who own old Ferraris cannot participate in this program. There is another customization program for them,' he said.
' Photos by courtesy PT Citra LanggengOtomotif
