Supercar Manufacturer Hoops and Hurdles

[Meridius]

Im sure this is something that most of us have heard about, rumours of these hoops and hurdles that high end manufacturers make potential owners jump through to work their way up into buying the flagship and limited models.

So I thought I would make this thread for anyone actually willing to share their own stories of this, whether first, second, third hand, rumour mill. Are these hoops and hurdles actually real or an exaggeration? Are there sneaky ways to work your way up into the manufacturers good books?

Also, something I want to tie into this, there is stories of brands like McLaren struggling with reliability issues and disappointment in their aftercare for customers etc so I am wondering, is that really just them? Do lots of the high end car manufacturers struggle with the same reliability with such complex and exotic cars? Ferrari have their extensive warranty and servicing packages now but does this quietly come with an agreement that the customer will stay tight lipped about any problems they had? Are customers that are made to jump through hoops and hurdles trying to climb the ladder, naturally also going to stay quiet about things like reliability too incase their next visit is met with a "Oh sorry sir, there are no longer any customer spots available... "

[andrew]

this thread may not go well...

[Slow]

Buy every model, give them lots of cash and dont flip the cars is basically all there is to it from what I can tell. After you do this for a while they let you buy the special stuff.

[av185]

Had to take a couple of reasonably expensive cars over the years in order to get some flagship models.

Pal had to order a c£125k new car to secure a £225k flagship model which was worth c £500k at the time. Oh yes and a £10k watch too.

Par for the course.

[Chubbyross]

andrew said:

this thread may not go well...

I was thinking the same. Not sure whether to fetch the popcorn or my coat.

[rat rod]

Chubbyross said:

andrew said:

this thread may not go well...

I was thinking the same. Not sure whether to fetch the popcorn or my coat.

Ha Ha ,

[Trev450]

It has the potential to be quite interesting and informative, but based on the way in which most threads unfold on here I'm probably hoping for a miracle.

[Cheib]

I sent an e-mail enquiry to a Ferrari dealer about an 812 GTS back in Feb. Heard absolutely nothing which didn't surprise me as I have never bought a Ferrari. About a month ago sales person contacts me, we exchange e-mails and then speak on the phone. "We have some new allocations of 812 GTS's, can I ask if you are an existing Ferrari customer"...."No..always wanted a V12 Ferrari and like the idea of a GTS". Only available to existing customers. That was that. Got offered a delivery mileage car for £20k over list.

I suppose what I found interesting is that they were having to resort to trying to sell cars like that to people like me who they did't know from Adam....and didn't even acknowledge the initial enquiry in Feb. Clearly not as easy to sell cars as it was.

[Roof down]

Why shouldn’t this thread go well, interesting I think, not that I could ever afford such cars.
Mike

[Chubbyross]

Roof down said:

Why shouldn’t this thread go well, interesting I think, not that I could ever afford such cars.
Mike

I suspect a lot of hoop-jumpers won’t feel comfortable divulging hoop-jumping secrets, along with the enormous amounts of money that has been spent jumping said hoops.

It’s a shame this thread has been moved. I think more mortal car owners would be interested to read this in GG.

Edited by Chubbyross on Monday 21st December 21:04

[ecsrobin]

I saw something mentioned on another thread reference trying to buy a Porsche GT3 or similar.

I assumed I could just walk into a dealership and buy one (when on the market) but guessing that’s not the case?

Reference the mention of Ferrari above. Say you purchased a Ferrari secondhand not from a dealership I’m guessing that doesn’t tick the box of a previous owner? Or could you buy a cheap car like a mondial and then that’s sufficient?

[Ferruccio]

This isn’t complicated.
If demand exceeds supply, especially if it’s by a lot, a vendor will provide that supply to its best customers.

[ecsrobin]

Ferruccio said:

This isn’t complicated.
If demand exceeds supply, especially if it’s by a lot, a vendor will provide that supply to its best customers.

Did you read the first post?

[DeltaOne]

Ferruccio said:

This isn’t complicated.
If demand exceeds supply, especially if it’s by a lot, a vendor will provide that supply to its best customers.

Yep, and the best customers are those who have bought countless cars over the years and not just called up with a good yarn when the latest and greatest limited edition/hot version is released.

I've played the game a lot with Ferrari and Porsche over the years. Ferrari have taken this all to a new level in recent years, but plenty of us have been convinced to keep playing the game. Whether that can be sustained going forward given that limited editions are becoming less limited (can't wait to see how many 812Tdf's there are compared to the F12 variant) is another matter. Now they're a public company the challenge is pleasing both clients and investors. Porsche have been significantly less limited since 997 was replaced (look at the numbers for 997GT2 RS vs 991GT2RS if you want to see this in action, or 981 GT4 vs 718 GT4), but the cars themselves remain lusted after so there will always be people happy to buy a Cayenne/Macan or three to secure a hard to get slot....even its not quite as hard to get as it was 10 years ago

[av185]

DeltaOne said:

Porsche have been significantly less limited since 997 was replaced (look at the numbers for 997GT2 RS vs 991GT2RS if you want to see this in action, or 981 GT4 vs 718 GT4), but the cars themselves remain lusted after so there will always be people happy to buy a Cayenne/Macan or three to secure a hard to get slot....even its not quite as hard to get as it was 10 years ago

Over 600 981 GT4s in total but only 290 UK 718 GT4s up to end of October 2020 with 2021 production figures as yet unknown but likely to be less with production likely to end by Summer.

[MDL111]

av185 said:

DeltaOne said:

Porsche have been significantly less limited since 997 was replaced (look at the numbers for 997GT2 RS vs 991GT2RS if you want to see this in action, or 981 GT4 vs 718 GT4), but the cars themselves remain lusted after so there will always be people happy to buy a Cayenne/Macan or three to secure a hard to get slot....even its not quite as hard to get as it was 10 years ago

Over 600 981 GT4s in total but only 290 UK 718 GT4s up to end of October 2020 with 2021 production figures as yet unknown but likely to be less with production likely to end by Summer.

997 RS vs 991 RS about 500 vs close to 5000 I believe / read somewhere. No clue about GT4

[MDL111]

I think as with everything there are different levels of limited. I could have bought a Speciale without any new
Ferrari purchasing history in 2014/2015, but when asked about a tdf there was polite silence/we quickly moved on to other topics. The really limited stuff and ability to commission your own one-off car etc - I have no clue, probably blank chequebook for a decade plus required.

Anecdotally from reading forums like ferrarichat, the guys who got to order sth like a tdf pretty much buy every new Ferrari and in some cases multiples of a model (such as replacing one GTC4 after 12-18 months with another one and usually optioned up a lot via tailor made etc).

I think it is great if you have the money, but if you don’t I think paying the premium for cars like that is a much cheaper option.
Ferrari seems to appreciate people who go racing in their cars - so doing the Challenge series for a few years should get you plenty of brownie points towards limited cars (and be a lot more fun - to me - than buying a lot of cars I might not really need/want).

[av185]

MDL111 said:

I think as with everything there are different levels of limited. I could have bought a Speciale without any new
Ferrari purchasing history in 2014/2015, but when asked about a tdf there was polite silence/we quickly moved on to other topics. The really limited stuff and ability to commission your own one-off car etc - I have no clue, probably blank chequebook for a decade plus

Bizarre to think that literally anyone even without previous F buying history could have walked into a Ferrari showroom at the time and bought a new Speciale.

[MDL111]

av185 said:

MDL111 said:

I think as with everything there are different levels of limited. I could have bought a Speciale without any new
Ferrari purchasing history in 2014/2015, but when asked about a tdf there was polite silence/we quickly moved on to other topics. The really limited stuff and ability to commission your own one-off car etc - I have no clue, probably blank chequebook for a decade plus

Bizarre to think that literally anyone even without previous F buying history could have walked into a Ferrari showroom at the time and bought a new Speciale.

Yup it is really not that long ago that it was a choice anybody had, if they wanted to buy a GT3 RS or a CSL or a Scuderia/Speciale instead of a standard car without any issues - this level of “limited” just didn’t exist/there wasn’t enough demand for stuff like this Pre say 2015/2016. From memory the 670 SV and the Carrera GT didn’t sell out (and I believe buying a 918 was also possible / events to entice people to buy them). I guess numbers limited Ferraris were always tough(er) to get - from memory wasn’t the Enzo the first car that never dropped below list (and obviously still has not to this day).

[LotusJas]

av185 said:

Bizarre to think that literally anyone even without previous F buying history could have walked into a Ferrari showroom at the time and bought a new Speciale.

Definitely.

As I regret not buying one when I test drove it, soon after it was launched.

Funny thing is how Ferrari then "pretended" the Pista was a limited numbers car, forcing buyers to buy other cars (e.g. Lusso V8) to get one. Only to lose a tidy sum.