Automobile Retailers

Ferrari is becoming a significant brand in the United States and the opening of two new stores will add to their prestige.

The expansion of the company’s famed Ferrari Stores will continue in Miami, Florida, and Honolulu, Hawaii. These two retail stores are in addition to the other two stores already located in the United States in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. This brings the total Ferrari stores internationally to 22, with 8 of the 22 stores located in Italy.

The Ferrari Store serves as a sort of hub for merchandising. It is not known as a Ferrari dealer outlet, but rather a retail sales outlet in which typically high end consumers are able to shop for Ferrari-related items. Ferrari clothing and other merchandise can be purchased at the Ferrari Store, making for a compelling experience for fans of the Prancing Horse.

The development strategy of the Ferrari Stores foresees other openings in the most important cities in the world. The next opening will be next fall in the heart of London on Regent Street.

It is always worth it to have a look inside a Ferrari Store, especially if you love the Italian supercars. There is always a lot to see and some stores feature famous models of Ferrari cars for display purposes.

Ferrari has dispatched the services of one of the most qualified test drivers in the world to check out its brand spankin’ new California: Michael Schumacher.

When Ferrari’s new V8 is set to be unveiled at the Paris auto show in October of 2008, they want everything to be just perfect. The California is one of the more hyped cars Ferrari has ever put out, so the use of Schumacher at various stages in production will certainly help add more credibility.

In fact, Schumacher has been involved in production since the inception of the idea. He has worked with engineers, technicians and test-drivers on refining the car in general and its performance parameters in particular.

Schumacher has also been involved somewhat in marketing the vehicle. He recently explained the difference between the California and the 430 Scuderia. “They were designed to meet different requirements,” he said. “The 430 Scuderia is for drivers who want the very essence of a Ferrari and will get it out on a race track as often as they can. The California, on the other hand, is designed for everyday use and weekends away.”

Whether the addition of Schumacher’s name and blessing gives Ferrari a boost for the new California or not, you can be sure that your local Ferrari dealer will be featuring these beautiful cars front and centre as soon as they arrive.

A hairdresser accused of stealing 74,000 UK pounds worth of hair straighteners purchased a Ferrari because of a midlife crisis. The hairdresser, a man named Mark McMorrine, gave evidence at his own trial in Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

He admitted to living to the “limit of his means” and needing to steal to get by. McMorrine needed to borrow money regularly and found himself living well into his overdraft, so he did what any normal person would do and stole several thousand pounds worth of hair straighteners to sell on eBay.

He spent 31,000 pounds on a Ferrari, too, because nothing helps a person get back into a good fiscal situation like an exotic sports car.

At court, McMorrine admitted that he sold 946 pairs of luxury hair irons on eBay, using computers at two salons in Edinburgh and one at his home to fix up the deals.

Is there a lesson to learn here? Probably not. Most of this blog’s readers have enough sense to know that a Ferrari isn’t going to fix any sort of crisis and stealing hair straighteners isn’t going to help matters either.

For those who can, however, why not take a trip down to the local Ferrari dealer and check things out? You won’t have to steal any hair straighteners for a test drive.

It’s amazing how good a car can make you feel.

People have long sought after thrills to help elevate them to another level of existence and give them the ultimate rush. Bungee jumping is popular for that very reason, as is skydiving and waterskiing. The thrill-seeker often has more zeal for life than the cubicle-bound suit, so there may be something to the “extreme” lifestyle.

For those who seek thrills, there is often nothing more satisfying than a fast car. For me, that fast car was always the Ferrari. It didn’t matter what the specifics were, either. There was just something about the squeal of the engine as it roared to life, the sound of the tires skidding, the look of the flashy red paint, and the feel of the steering wheel as the powerful engine obeyed every command from the driver.

This was it.

A Ferrari can be good for the soul. Even thinking about driving one, pedal-to-the-metal, can be good for the soul. Just close your eyes and try it; put yourself in another world, wherever you are right now, and imagine yourself behind the wheel of one of these Italian supercars.

With the new Ferrari California capturing the imagination of drivers everywhere, it may not be long before they’ll have to start putting construction site-like barricades around the local Ferrari dealer to stop the drooling and dreaming dudes and dudettes from imagining things just a little too close to the real deal.

Ferrari has discovered that the internet can make a significant impact in developing brand awareness and is using a microsite to promote the soon-to-be-released Ferrari California. The car will make its debut in October of 2008 at the Paris Auto Show, but web users won’t have to wait that long to get a glimpse at the new machine.

For most of us, driving the Ferrari California is something that will simply NOT happen. We’ll have to be content to live vicariously through others, once again. But the website helps people like us get a sense of what it might be like to slip behind the wheel and plant the pedal to the floor.

Ferrari is claiming that some 500 million hits have arrived on the site since its release in May. That means that a lot of people want to capture that very same experience. There are films on the site, as well as photographs and screensavers that are available for download for your PC or for your cell phone. You can show off the stylish Ferrari California just about anywhere.

If the website simply won’t do, you’ll have to wait until at least October to get your first real look at the car. And until then, you can satisfy your thirst by dropping by a Ferrari dealer for a test drive.

Phone maker Motorola, based out of the United States, is joining with car maker Ferrari, based out of Italy, to create a handset to debut in the Indian market. There’s nothing like a little cross-cross-cultural branding, is there?

The co-branded 3G-enabled handset will be available exclusively at the Mobile Store for the first week of its launch, but the two companies said that it would not be merely a limited edition device.

The handset is designed to capture in on the growing interest in automobile racing in India. The Indian youth are fascinated with the sport and this is changing the mindset and taste of the consumer.

The product is 3G enabled, which means that consumers will be able to watch movies and video clips on it with ease. There is a distinctive racing interface, 2-mega pixel camera, and an expandable memory that holds over 2 GB.

At the moment, the phone is set to be sold in ten cities across India, including Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai. If the phone does well in those markets, it may expand to other markets across the country. The fascination and interest in auto-racing is expected to help sales, making the product merger between Motorola and Ferrari a profitable one for both parties.

For more information about Motorola, drop by their website. For more information about Ferrari, take a spin down to your local Ferrari dealer and take a test drive. You’ll be glad you did!

In Formula One news, Ferrari has received some vindication after McLaren agreed to pay a settlement and the Italian team’s court costs from a spying scandal.

McLaren had been caught red-handed with 780 pages of a Ferrari technical dossier at the home of its chief designer. There was a resulting $100 million fine for McLaren and they were disqualified from the 2007 constructors’ championship award.

McLaren said Friday that both sides had agreed to bring the dispute to a final conclusion. The exact terms of the deal were not released, but Ferrari said it would donate the payment from McLaren to charity.

Ferrari said that it was going to continue its case against the former Ferrari mechanic that started the ball rolling, Nigel Stepney. Stepney was the head of performance development at Ferrari in July 2007 when the scandal broke out initially. The 780 page dossier was found at the home of McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan. Both men were fired from their respective teams immediately.

If you want to get a good look at a Ferrari, there’s no need to go all covert; simply drop on down to your local Ferrari dealer and have a look around. Heck, you may even be able to finagle a test drive without too much trouble.

A couple of days ago, we told you all about Ferrari’s plans for the future and how they include a little splash of green. The decision to go green turned a lot of heads in the world of luxury cars and got Ferrari a lot of attention, both good and bad.

The bad attention came from individuals who had little faith in the process and don’t believe a company like hybrid can nor should go green. Many stand behind companies like Lamborghini, suggesting that the production for the vehicles is so insignificant anyway that any “green shift” is virtually unnecessary. Lamborghini has claimed, in the past, that they will not meet new emissions standards because they simply don’t make enough cars for such a shift to be profitable. Sorry, that should read “as profitable.”

Ferrari, on the other hand, has committed to a 40% reduction in emissions by 2012. The company’s president, Luca di Montezemolo, has added hybrid technology to the strategy for making that target.

“We are currently working on the development of a Ferrari that will use alternative energy sources based on what we are doing at the moment in Formula One,” di Montezemolo told a German newspaper. For Formula One fans, this comment is likely confirmation that Ferrari is developing a road version of the KERS (Kinetic Energy Regeneration System) that Ferrari’s F1 Team will use next season.

For the rest of us, a simple trip down to a Ferrari dealer may shed some light on the comments. A test drive can’t hurt, either.

The so-called niche automakers have always had a bit of a tough time getting in line behind the rest of the car manufacturers when it comes to going green. Most car companies are pursuing greener technologies quickly and are trying to capture the market share associated with making smaller, environmentally-friendly cars and trucks. But the niche carmakers, like Lamborghini and Ferrari, are a little slower to follow suit.

Ferrari is, according to many industry insiders, about to break the mold open for other niche automakers by declaring a hybrid Ferrari for 2015. Sure, technology may well have moved beyond the hybrid by then and into something more substantial, but the effort made by the Italian automaker cannot go ignored at this point. At least they’re thinking about it!

To their credit, Ferrari has promised to cut 40% of their emissions by 2012, which is an admirable promise made all the more remarkable in light of Lamborghini’s promise to do absolutely nothing with emissions. For this reason, Ferrari may quickly become the favourite of green lovers of speed.

With an environmentally-friendly future on the horizon and an incredible history of fast cars and powerful machines, Ferrari may be the niche car company to beat as years go by. Stop by a Ferrari dealer today and see what they’re up to!

It’s hard to imagine a car that will get much faster than a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. In fact, a spin around the block in a Ferrari is enough to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up and a cruise in a Lamborghini will knock toupees off for blocks.

While there are faster cars on the planet, most of them are under wraps at secret locations somewhere and are only driven by the very, very rich.

Enter UK sports car builder Noble and the M600. Spotted this week at a British test track, this brand spanking new machine is scheduled for a release next year and will have more than a few tongues wagging.

Noble will make about 50 of the things and will use a 650 horsepower, twin-turbo 4.4 litre V-8 taken from Volvo. With this much power under the hood, Lamborghini and Ferrari may have a lot of making up to do.

Of course, your local Ferrari dealer will still be more than happy to prove that their cars are among the finest in the world. And the Lamborghini factory owners will still stand by their products.

But the Noble M600 sure as hell sounds exciting, doesn’t it? It will, like its M15 predecessor (pictured above for drooling purposes) use a speed shifting six-speed transmission. And it’ll rock. A lot.