Ferrari F40, circa 1988
Italian automaker Ferrari is one of the few luxury brands to have increased production, and therefore revenue, without sacrificing its exclusivity, according to Brand Finance.
Ferrari improved by three points this year brand strength as referenced by Brand Finance’s rankings. The valuation and strategy consultancy has released its list of most valuable auto brands of 2017 of which BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi covet some of the top 10 spots.
"The key takeaway is that for luxury brands, the holy grail is to maximize revenues without compromising the strength of the brand," said Robert Haigh, marketing and communications director at Brand Finance. "Ferrari seems to have found a way to do this despite the potential risk of loss of exclusivity through an increase in production.
'This shows that a fundamental understanding of what is driving your brand’s strength, lets you know where you can leverage the brand for financial gain and where you should steer clear," he said.
Driving up the ranks
BMW is this year’s second most valuable auto brand ranked by Brand Finance, maintaining its same place as last year and beaten only by Toyota. Mercedes came in at third, also maintaining its same place as last year.
Image courtesy of BMW
However, Ferrari jumped up within the top 20, causing Brand Finance to classify it as the most powerful and within the top 10 powerful brands of any industry. The luxury auto brand has risen to 92 brand rating points.
While BMW may covet the second-most valuable place, Ferrari holds to top spot of brand power and Porsche as the second. Ferrari has received the AAA+ brand ranking, which is the highest brand power ranking from Brand Finance.
Ferrari recently raised its production cap from 7,000 vehicles up to 9,000. The company’s brand value has since then increased 40 percent to $6.15 billion this year.
1956 Ferrari 290 MM by Scaglietti
A new theme park will open in PortAventura World named Ferrari Land, focusing on all things Ferrari. The park is set to open in March and is further commercializing the Ferrari-brand, but has not sunk brand value or power.
Ferrari branding
Ferrari has employed many other branding pushes and initiatives that could keep its status as a luxury brand. For instance, the automaker recently developed a “Next Generation” platform to assist the development of variations on several of its flagship models.
Continuing a decade-long partnership with Michigan-based Altair, Ferrari’s platform accounts for flexibility of packaging design and manufacturing processes. With many ideas feeding into the eventual design of a concept vehicle, this platform was developed to better handle the evolving nature of the process (see more).
Ferrari also worked with auctioneer RM Sotheby’s to aid victims of the earthquakes in its native Italy.
The supercar brand created a one-of-a-kind LaFerrari specifically for a charity auction, giving prospective owners one last chance to purchase the limited-run model. This United States auction drew heavy interest from collectors worldwide, with a final bid of $7 million, increasing the benefit to the cause (see more).