I am an avid car enthusiast and used to be very interested in the Indian Car scene (foreign cars in India included) until I moved to the U.S. and started losing touch. I have been following most TEam BHP threads for a few months now although I rarely post.
The first time I read about this doctor, I got interested seeing his signature and was looking forward to insightful information on Ferrari's strategy in India, events in the pipeline, dealer pictures, etc. but alas, what I/we got was a load of crap (apologies moderators, but using the word crap was most suited and inevitable).
I agree with his claims on dealers being able to control/dictate prices but that only makes commercial sense in the cases of rare, limited edition, novelty (owned by a famous/notorious person) cars.
We would all agree, and when I say 'we' I include those illiterate in the complex discipline of marketing management (myself included) that it would be absolute harakiri (a crazy form of suicide) to charge ridiculous prices for non - limit (non predetermined limit I mean) production vehicles like the 430, the quattroporte, and the like. It would also be harakiri to
discriminate against customers to "preserve" the exclusivity of the brand.
here is a fictitious scenario which I am sure will serve to amuse everyone.
Me: walking into National Garage, dressed in simple attire with no fancy accessories (cellphone, key fob, etc.)
Mktg. person: Hello, How may I help you?
Me: I would like to get some information on the F430
Mktg. person: (to himself) hmm, he seems like ordinary riff raff and doesn't look like he can afford one and then to me: Yes Sir, certainly, but may I ask what you do? We usually like to understand a person's background and see if they would fit our image and preserve our heritage and build on it.
Me: umm, that sounds incredulous, but anyways, I won the megamillions in the U.S. last week and all of a sudden I have more money than I could ever imagine and would like to spoil myself with some toys.
Him: oh, does that mean that you are not a man of stature, a man of good standing in business, media, or any other such entity? We will have to consider your situation before we decide whether we can sell it to you.
Me: Well, in that case, I don't think I will ever pass your 'test'. I am a simple self employed person who is a nobody in the world's eyes.
Thanks, and I guess, I should go look elsewhere.
Okay, so that was a ridiculous scenario that could NEVER take place in real life. Even if Ferrari/Maserati followed such practices it would be utterly moronic to reveal all that on a public forum like this.
Ferrari s.p.a is a commercial organization. Commercial organizations run for one purpose - to make money. The products for said commercial organization fall in the very high end range thus only allowing a minority of the general population to be their customers.
Dealers
can but never will do such a thing as to demand ridiculously high prices for production cars. The sources for buying exotic cars are so vast (1000s of dealers, importers, and resellers besides owners wanting to sell their exotics can be found here in the U.S. and so is the case with other developed nations around the world) that trying to dictate prices is being monopolistic in an oligopolistic (a few sellers unlike only one seller in a monopoly) environment. e.g. There is only one dealer in my state and the next one is 5 states away but if my dealer decides to twist my arm in selling me a Ferrari I will only look elsewhere although it will cause me some inconvenience in travelling 5 states to find the next closest dealer. But that inconvenience is not sufficient to not make me go elsewhere.
That, unfortunately might not be the case with India where if the only dealer in the country decides to be a prick you have to go to Italy (or Dubai or wherever) to find another dealer. But that is where the other factor, that of human emotion comes into play.
Every car has its price, those will novelty attached to them (F430 owned by 50Cent e.g.) might go for more.
It is only in cases where the selling entity is non commercial, e.g. a museum wanting to go a piece from its collection to go into trustworthy hands or Pranlal Bhogilal deciding to sell or give away one of his cars to a person of his liking. Even in those cases, we can safely predict that money being a major factor is highly possible.
Buying a car, be it a Ferrari or a Suzuki, is not a one time exchange but the start of a long term relationship. A dealer wants your business, your appreciation which will result in spreading the word and bring more business. A dealer's attitude can make it or break it. The Mercedes dealer in Ahmedabad was so nice to us and made us feel so much at home that I wouldn't think twice before doing business with him again, so striking was his attitude and treatment that I would also be happy to extend personal help to him in a completely non-car-related situation.
That being said, I highly doubt that even the promoters/employees of National Garage in their right mind, would do what the doctor claims, and if they do, God save them from doom.
To end my sermon, here is a link that y'all might find interesting.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ferra...spagenameZWDVW
Yes, it is very common here to find exotics being sold on ebay. You will find quattroportes, SLRs, you name it. Just do a quick search for the vehicle you are looking for on Ebay motors and chances are that you will find it.
All the seller cares for is that I pay the amount I bid to win the auction. Whether I park the car in my yard and take a dump in it every morning or I take my 12 gauge and put 50 holes in it and use it for target practice is none of his concern.
In yo face, doctor. (seriously no offense Dr. Arora, I still appreciate reading your posts as some of them are infact interesting but it would only make sense if you used some common sense with your "Ferrariously excited ego".)
God bless,
Apologies for the long post