While Ferrari are known to be selective in regards who actually gets to buy a Ferrari, especially when it comes to limited edition models, you might have assumed that it’s an easier thing for its employees.
After all, some other manufacturers will offer its employees or even past employees special discounts on their cars as a reward for their service and loyalty. But it has now emerged that at Ferrari, things work pretty much in the opposite way.
In a recent interview with the Australian motoring website Drive, Ferrari’s chief marketing and commercial officer Enrico Galliera revealed that among the company’s list of stringent rules, company employees are normally forbidden from buying a brand new Ferrari off the factory line.
Galliera said: “The philosophy is that with such limited production and clients waiting so long to get their car, it's not nice if the car is delivered to employees. It is clients first.”
The only two Ferrari employees who are ordinarily made an exception and allowed to buy a new Ferrari road car are the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team drivers. But while Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen can get themselves a new Ferrari while racing for the brand, they are not offered any special discount and are made to pay full price.
In his current role, Galliera has the job of deciding who gets to buy a limited edition Ferrari before its release. When it came to deciding who would buy a LaFerrari Aperta, the open-top version of Ferrari’s hybrid hypercar, Galliera posted a small box to the top 200 potential customers he had chosen. Inside the box was a car key and a note asking the recipients if they wanted to buy the Aperta before even seeing it in the metal. All 200 clients replied yes.
Galliera also commented that "the most difficult part of my job is to say no.” He added: "At the very beginning you receive applications from people who do not deserve, they simply have the money. 'I am the king of something, so I deserve the car.' I say 'Yes, but you are not a Ferrari client.'”
