The Italian automaker today rebutted media reports of its financial instability, insisting that not only is the company operating within expected parameters, but that everything is fine in terms of sales despite the global slowdown.
A report yesterday by Autocar claimed an inside source revealed Ferrari would be cutting up to 300 jobs by weeks end as part of a drastic cost-savings measure to keep the company afloat.
Today's statement from Ferrari, by way of MotorTrend, reveals that that is - at least for the moment - patently false. No such announcement has been made, and though a contractual analysis is ongoing within the company, the reaction by leadership to the erroneous reports serves as an indicator that no such firings will take place.
Sales at the company are somewhat slower than last year, but 2007 was a strong year for the company, and 2008 has been universally bad for the car business as a whole. Coming up about 120 vehicles short of 2007's year-to-date tally with 1,482 vehicles sold in 2008 puts sales down about 7.5% - pretty good, all things considered. Ferrari says that F430 sales in particular are going well, though spider models are understandably slow as the Northern Hemisphere heads into winter.
Finally, the planned production holiday is within normal ranges, with the company claiming it's simply taking advantage of the proximity of the weekend to the holidays this year. The extra time off isn't related to an overflow of unsold stock, says the Ferrari source.
The recent reveal of the California convertible hardtop and the Scuderia Spider 16M offer somewhat independent indicators that as recently as last month Ferrari was confident enough in its current position to launch two brand new models - something most brands elect to delay during hard times.
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