MC20 Cielo review

[Guy]

There was a new 296 at Prescott and the weekend it looked quite nice. There was none of the Halfords Max Power tat on the outside so not sure where the extras were although someone had speced the the silly plastic seats. Even the Ms thought it looked quite nice.

They have one on the turntable at Podium Place in Newbury (cars and coffee) and it looks so much better in the flesh than photos, perhaps a return to form for Ferarri after so much bling!

 

[Guy]

Regarding options on these sorts of cars, I was chatting to my Ferrari dealer, half interested (ok quarter interested) in ordering a new Roma. They said unless you spec it well (and by well he meant pricey) then it will forever be shunted back in the waiting list. They will only build cars with £X of options. I guess when you have such a sought after product you can do that sort of thing.

I was told the same when I asked the theoretical question about a 458 with no options; 'we will take the order but you will receive an endless number of polite letters from Ferrari Spa. saying that your build date has slipped....'

 

[Guy]

yes, pretty irritating to say the least! Probably explains why there arent any "poverty" spec supercars out there. Porsche are the same apparently.

I suspect as much. I had heard that the wait for a new GTS992 was 12-18 months. A friend has a very highly specced one (Targa) arriving 1st June, ordered in March....
Either that or the market has seriously slowed (though everything in the Reading showroom was sold).

 

[Andyk]

Honestly, that’s one of the worst things I’ve ever heard (relatively speaking - obviously not compared with world hunger etc.)

Agree, what a load of b0llocks. That is either the dealer trying to get more money as a I am sure they must get more for a well spec car. If not then that is Ferrari taking the p1ss.

 

[Guy]

Agree, what a load of b0llocks. That is either the dealer trying to get more money as a I am sure they must get more for a well spec car. If not then that is Ferrari taking the p1ss.

It is all about the profit. The best example are the coloured calipers, not sure current pricing but probably 1k. When I was at Brembo about 3 years ago I asked what the price difference was to supply Yellow, Red etc and they told me that the supplier price is the same regardless. So Ferrari, Maserati etc make 100% profit there! I guess when demand exceeds supply, which it has done at Ferrari for many years, you can pick and choose the business you want to take to maximise profits.

 

[Andyk]

It is all about the profit. The best example are the coloured calipers, not sure current pricing but probably 1k. When I was at Brembo about 3 years ago I asked what the price difference was to supply Yellow, Red etc and they told me that the supplier price is the same regardless. So Ferrari, Maserati etc make 100% profit there! I guess when demand exceeds supply, which it has done at Ferrari for many years, you can pick and choose the business you want to take to maximise profits.

So my second point was right … Ferrari taking the p1ss.

 

[sionie1]

So my second point was right … Ferrari taking the p1ss.

Good business model though, if you ran a business happy days. Control the number of cars and the spend on each motor. There aren't too many others who get away with that.

 

[Guy]

Good business model though, if you ran a business happy days. Control the number of cars and the spend on each motor. There aren't too many others who get away with that.

and good for the investors. All companies are under huge pressure to maximise returns and we all want our pension funds to grow as much as possible so business does what it can. The lack of transparency is perhaps a different matter.
The Ferrari way is a better way than the route that Mercedes look in the mid 90s. They decided to stop building cars that would last several 100,000 kms and many decades so reduced costs and quality to improve margins. They went too far for a while and were punished by the marketplace. Lessons were learned but I do think the whole industry now knows how to build cars to a low cost with just enough quality for their paying customers, not those of us who want their products at 10 or 20 years old and pay specialists not MDs for service. Lack of rust proofing is a great example and one we all know well for subframes here.

 

[Andyk]

Either way they are still taking the p1ss of their customers.

 

[sionie1]

Either way they are still taking the p1ss of their customers.

Yet their customers seem to be happy with it, which seems odd to most but then perhaps it's a subtle form of bragging when you buy new. Or not so subtle, I've got the Ferrari and they delivered in xxxx ahead of the 'poverty' spec order.

 

[Dman666]

This time next year DesBoy, you'll be a millionaire...

Nah i spend to much

 

[mowlas]

yes, pretty irritating to say the least! Probably explains why there arent any "poverty" spec supercars out there. Porsche are the same apparently.

Reminds me of this video. I’m sure there is an equivalent for everyone’s least loved brand dealerships…

 

[Masser50]

Interestingly if you want to order a unspec’d MC20 they’ll build it in the order received. There’s a few cost free black cars, with no carbon, although think they have the lifter (commonsense!) and stitched leather (an option) and little else in Australia. That said, the average optioned MC20 here has about GBP 25-30k added, about 30% is choosing non-black colour and another 30% of this total figure really being daylight robbery tax cost.

 

[MrMickS]

When Maserati have the order book demand that Ferrari have they will do the same thing regarding cars. If you can build a car that you make X profit on, or one that you build 2X profit on, which would you build?

All the harping on about companies taking the pi55 is missing the point that the companies are there to make money. I asked about a Roma Spider at a local dealer event a couple of weeks ago. List is about £200k. You won't get one for less than £235-£250 and there are cars specced over £300k.

To be honest Ferrari do such a good job of schmoozing potential buyers with test drives, loan cars, free events with track time etc, that they make it all seem perfectly reasonable when they present it. It's an interesting approach that I'm happy being invited to participate in but am quite aware of their intentions.

 

[Andyk]

When Maserati have the order book demand that Ferrari have they will do the same thing regarding cars. If you can build a car that you make X profit on, or one that you build 2X profit on, which would you build?

All the harping on about companies taking the pi55 is missing the point that the companies are there to make money. I asked about a Roma Spider at a local dealer event a couple of weeks ago. List is about £200k. You won't get one for less than £235-£250 and there are cars specced over £300k.

To be honest Ferrari do such a good job of schmoozing potential buyers with test drives, loan cars, free events with track time etc, that they make it all seem perfectly reasonable when they present it. It's an interesting approach that I'm happy being invited to participate in but am quite aware of their intentions.

Not sure I agree with them. Ferrari have always had very full order books so if it’s a base car (which they still make money on) or a high spec one they will still sell the same amount of cars and get the higher profit ones out but just may be a different financial year so they will not lose out. If I am first to put my name down I should be the first to get a car no matter what spec. If I stand at the front of the fish and chip shop queue and they find out I only want a bag of chips they didn’t send me to the back as someone at the back wants fish, a pie, a sausage in batter, a burger, a fish cake and 6 bags of chips (greedy buggers) when they find I only want chips.

I suppose what they are saying is have lots of options and you can get a car quicker. But will you is the question or is just a scam to get you to spend more.

 

[spkennyuk]

Not sure I agree with them. Ferrari have always had very full order books so if it’s a base car (which they still make money on) or a high spec one they will still sell the same amount of cars and get the higher profit ones out but just may be a different financial year so they will not lose out. If I am first to put my name down I should be the first to get a car no matter what spec. If I stand at the front of the fish and chip shop queue and they find out I only want a bag of chips they didn’t send me to the back as someone at the back wants fish, a pie, a sausage in batter, a burger, a fish cake and 6 bags of chips (greedy buggers) when they find I only want chips.

I suppose what they are saying is have lots of options and you can get a car quicker. But will you is the question or is just a scam to get you to spend more.

Im going back a few years. When i ordered my first Alfa they told me the production date / week within a couple of days. They told me they batched cars of the same / similar spec together as it was easier / quicker logistics and parts wise to so X days of say Veloce spec followed by X days of Lusson spec.

 

[Andyk]

Im going back a few years. When i ordered my first Alfa they told me the production date / week within a couple of days. They told me they batched cars of the same / similar spec together as it was easier / quicker logistics and parts wise to so X days of say Veloce spec followed by X days of Lusson spec.

Same here as have been lucky enough to have a few new Lotus and to be honest the bigger the spec the longer it took.

 

[Marco07]

So, I saw them making tge MC20s today and it was impressive. The engine testing gives a lot of confidence.

They make 6 a day, so about 1,440 a year allowing for summer shutdown.

Is that enough? At €300,000 each it’s a lot of money but Porsche churn out 310.000 cars per year and Ferrari shift 13,200.

I hope so.

Saw the new Grantourismo development also. The first all electric Maser. Leaves me cold but I bet it’s exhilarating.

 

[Felonious Crud]

Saw the new Grantourismo development also. The first all electric Maser. Leaves me cold but I bet it’s exhilarating.

Yeah, if you like service station coffee during the charging wait, and getting to the bar of the next hotel an hour after all your petrol-powered mates who are already long past the beers and into the pre-dinner gins. ;-)