May sales figures

give us a hint as to which one you have aquired.

How many California's has F sold? I just saw one live and I don't see a huge surge in sales coming.

The used G market has to have a huge effect on new car sales and even though many here seem to love the new SV, the price in this climate is laughable. The car is old and spending upper 400's on something that will drop like a rock just isn't happeneing for people that actually work for their money. Couple that with the stigma of buying exotics right now and it will continue to be hard times for the dealers.

I would doubt very strongly there will be severe price reductions.

Then for the next "bunch of years", I guess Lamborghini will be in difficult times. As was stated above, they do not attract the 'Ferrari style' of customer.

.......Also, since "it's cool to look poor" will I be seeing a rash of rap videos with Toyotas as the featured car.

Its really unfair to compare back to back years when your previous year was a record breaking year and this year has seen a monster recession (which could be categorized as a depression, and could turn into a full fledged catastrophe)

The "it's cool to look frugal" attitude is not why Lambos are selling poorly. Do you think the typical Lambo buyer really cares about what others think? Maybe with Ferrari or AM buyers but not L, at least that's the impression I get.

 

Lambo buyers are more likely to be income-rich, equity-poor and that means they need to borrow money. Banks aren't lending. That's the main reason prices are declining. The other reason is people's incomes have declined sharply. Those $350k Wall St hotshots are now making $125k or collecting unemployment. Small businesses are hurting too. Those are the two classes of L buyers (ie, small biz owners and high-income white collar professionals), and when they're both concerned for their financial futures they won't or can't make the purchase.

 

 

 

 

Consistent with most of the comment above, are these supporting facts:

 

Fact #1: Rich people do not participate in recessions.

 

Fact #2: Unfortunately many if not most Lambo owners are not rich, but they are huge car enthusiasts. These guys are just renting (leasing)...

 

Consider that the guys in Fact #1 will buy cars, the Fact #2 guys will also buy (rent) cars. This should mean that cars will continue to sell well, unless:

 

Fact #3: Everyone else is scared away due to the doom and gloom.....but these guys will just DELAY their purchase for a little while. Then the pent-up dam will burst, and buyers will once again flood the market.

 

Maybe....

Not that there is anything wrong with leasing. But shoud have added that the guys leasing cars may be less prone to keeping them, since leasing favors periodically trading in cars for newer ones. And if these flood the market once the lease is up, it may compound the problem. But less production should offset any negative effect of this, so outcome is unknown.

Reading and hearing more a more about how low new car sales are again, almost feels like momentum is slowly building for another shock to the car retail system .. Speaking from personal observation, bargain hunters did seem to generate some sales in the first few months of the year, but even that demand seems to be abating now.

 

Funny folk should say it’s cool to act poor, I was just thinking the normal cycle of fashion adopting the second-hand look hasn’t happened yet. I seem to actually get more respect now for the car, people perceive if you have a expensive car now, in these times, then you really must be doing something right!

 

In the UK, from what I hear, only one company is providing car finance at this time, but still needs at least 40% down and a 999 credit score plus other info.

 

another reason to ponder as to why Ferrari sells more cars is the total number of dealers they have compared to lambo..

I may be wrong as I am as recent as one can be in my "ownership" of a Lamborghini (my Diablo arrives today - Yay!) but I am not surprised by the dropoff with Lamborghini sales. As someone who has come from the world of Ferraris, I get the differences. IMO, Ferrari owners seem more stable in their purchases and decision making process. What I mean by that is that Ferrari owners seem more like "old money". The guy who cashes out his IPO is probably the one who will buy the Lamborghini, where the guy who buys the Ferrari is the wealthy 50 year old whose "time has finally come to get my dream". The same guys who cash the IPOs are, in general, the same ones who usually are suffering in a down economy where the 50 year old who has built the wealth slowly usually isn't as badly. Lamborghini is without ANY doubt the flashier of the two. Far more exotic in its looks. In today's economy, people are afraid of looking flashy. Almost embarrassed. That's too bad.

 

On a side note, I am done with Ferrari. My other cars have been placeholders until I found my Diablo. Other than an F50 or a Mosler, there isn't anything out there that I find as interesting or exotic.

 

To add to other points already made.....

 

- Yes, the Gallardos have come down SO much in price that, for most people, it would seem crazy to buy a new one when they can get one that looks identical to most people for a third to half of the cost.

 

- There are such great deals out there to be had on used cars (fire-sales from people who have either lost their jobs or lost their portfolios and are panicking).

 

- Banks have REALLY tightened their belts on who they lend to. When I got my loan through my credit union approved in 30 mins, I called the dealer back letting them know and he was asking me who I went through and what rate I got. When I told him, he wanted the number and said he was going to call them because that was better than they could find for most of their customers through their normal means.

 

 

Either way, I am glad to have mine finally coming today. I have wanted a Diablo forever and have just recently had a few deals fall through or lose an Ebay auction or two at the last second (literally). It is a buyers market for SURE out there and I am glad I am in the position to take advantage of it.

 

I post quite frequently on what has been my home for the past 5 years - FerrariChat - so look for me to be a frequent member here now.

 

 

Congratulations on your Diablo purchase! I agree with your statement. Also the vast amount of models produced over the last 30-40 years also has much to do with the larger "base" of owners in regards to Ferrari. I would guess that "base" of owners to be 10 times greater than lamborghini. Multiple model ownership would also add to that figure.

I have another take. I think many of the dealers are clueless when it comes to understanding how to market a Lamborghini versus a Bentley and expect the strategy to be the same. I've tried to explain this subtle difference to some dealers and they look at me with glazed-over eyes. Lamborghinis are not utility cars, they are usually sold to people who buy them for recreation use and they rely heavily on opinion leaders, typically friends they know. These same opinion leaders watch the market and advise their pals to not buy new because the market is soft. One CLUELESS dealer who shall go nameless offered the same used car to several of my friends, all at different prices not understanding that we're all talking to each other and know the true value of these cars. They don't understand that there is a culture that goes with the cars outside of the dealers who for the most part are tactical. Inventories are going down so prices will come back up, but who knows by how much or how soon.

I have another take. I think many of the dealers are clueless when it comes to understanding how to market a Lamborghini versus a Bentley and expect the strategy to be the same. I've tried to explain this subtle difference to some dealers and they look at me with glazed-over eyes. Lamborghinis are not utility cars, they are usually sold to people who buy them for recreation use and they rely heavily on opinion leaders, typically friends they know. These same opinion leaders watch the market and advise their pals to not buy new because the market is soft. One CLUELESS dealer who shall go nameless offered the same used car to several of my friends, all at different prices not understanding that we're all talking to each other and know the true value of these cars. They don't understand that there is a culture that goes with the cars outside of the dealers who for the most part are tactical. Inventories are going down so prices will come back up, but who knows by how much or how soon.

I agree Tommy. The dealers for Lambo have to have a different strategy. There are few other brands out there where you can come to a forum like this, post a picture of the car, and within minutes have the whole history of what has happened in that car from running up on a parking block to the shifter being ridden by a female with loose "morals." It seems so many dealers have tarnished reps because they are dumb enough to try and put one over the buyer and so many times the buyer is incredibly educated and catches them in a lie...

Yeah, has anyone seen anybody in those hideous things at all??? They might scrap it after the 2nd year...

Drove next to one yesterday.

I agree Tommy. The dealers for Lambo have to have a different strategy. There are few other brands out there where you can come to a forum like this, post a picture of the car, and within minutes have the whole history of what has happened in that car from running up on a parking block to the shifter being ridden by a female with loose "morals." It seems so many dealers have tarnished reps because they are dumb enough to try and put one over the buyer and so many times the buyer is incredibly educated and catches them in a lie...

The internet has changed "the game" a great deal. Dealers should be more cognizant of that -- (but they don't seem to be).

The internet has changed "the game" a great deal. Dealers should be more cognizant of that -- (but they don't seem to be).

 

 

Marketing 101: Dealers don't set prices, customers do. Dealers trying to set prices simply by holding out remains a joke as cars on eBay continue to define the market.

Don't you think the May Lambo figure also suffers from the fact that many "good" customers are waiting for their 560Spyders and 670s?

Given that that the "new" cars weren't really being delivered in May I don't think the figures look too bad for what I guess a basically 560Coupes and a few Murcis

 

Presumably 560Spyder deliveries will really start picking up at the end of June

Don't you think the May Lambo figure also suffers from the fact that many "good" customers are waiting for their 560Spyders and 670s?

Given that that the "new" cars weren't really being delivered in May I don't think the figures look too bad for what I guess a basically 560Coupes and a few Murcis

 

Presumably 560Spyder deliveries will really start picking up at the end of June

 

I think that is probably some of it. I know a lot of people who want a car but are sitting on the sidelines waiting for things to calm down. Sort of like the stock market, but with cars. Someone touched on a part of the problem earlier in the thread in that a big part of the problem is all the owners dumping their cars. Many do so because they don't have a reason to keep their cars. I blame the dealers again for not working harder to create the culture where more owners participate in events with other owners.