Ferrari rubs me up the wrong way

To the average car fan, there’s something quite smug about Ferrari. It’s like punters need to belong to a special club for them even to find out about their new cars. I find it all a bit off-putting, and it’s doing nothing for their brand reputation with me. What am I talking about? The company has published first pictures of a new car, called the SA Aperta (above). It will be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show later this week – I’ll be there to take a look – but it’s effectively the 599 convertible. It’s what the Italian firm calls a ‘special series’ model, which means it will be built in limited numbers. In this case, it’s just 80. That’s because it’s to mark the 80^th birthday of styling house Pininfarina, which has created many of Ferrari’s most successful cars. The SA element of the name celebrates Sergio and Andrea Pininfarina, the son and late grand-son of the firm’s founder who have been behind much of its prowess. All good so far… and then this little nugget in the press release. All the cars have already been sold. Talk about sticking two fingers up at anyone who might have the audacity to think about buying one! I’m sure there are scores of people around the world who have the cash to consider this car – and who will see it for the first time in magazines this week – but who aren’t actually customers already (that’s who will have been offered the chance to buy the SA Aperta). It really rubs me up the wrong way. It’s arrogant.