It appears AMG is following Ferrari's template ala 599XXX, which turned out to be a test bed for the 599 GTO. Not a bad example to follow, to be honest! That having been said, the SLS Black Series is hardly a surprise.
I personally think the soon-to-be-released Ferrari 599GTO will not be a success. Anyone who wish to purchase a focused track-ready Ferrari would now purchase the 458 Italia. The 599 is more of a Grand-Tourer because of its design, dimensions, and characteristics. I think the 599GTO will become an even more expensive irrelevance.
The 599 GTO will sell like very expensive hotcakes, bank on it. Its a much a collectors as any other Ferrari. Ferrari buyers aren't bargain shoppers and they have more than one so....they'll be buying this one in droves. The GTO name alone gets it in the door. M
The sales of all V12-engined Ferraris have ground to an effective halt since the beginning of the financial crisis. The GTO is part of Ferrari's response. The HGTC package (which could be retrofitted to existing 599GTB's) have not done well either. Times have changed.
We'll see because car sales are picking up again. I hardly see GTOs sitting around collecting dust at Ferrari dealers. Ferrari will limit production if sales aren't what they want them to be. M
I was told recently that the sales of Californias have slowed quite significantly too. I suppose the sales have fallen because the novelty value has diminished. And it really isn't that good looking.........................That's why you hear the Ferrari exec's talk about the importance of "new money" markets such as China and Russia. These markets are less sophisticated and the Ferrari badge alone will make the cars run out of the showroom. The fact is, all new Ferraris do sell well for about 24-36 months. The real test begins once all the advance orders have been delivered. The only exception was the 612 Sacglietti. It had a poor reception and did not sell well at all. Most of the later sales came in the form of special editions (such as country-specific editions, dealer-specials, the Sessantas, etc) and that made a farce of Ferrari's "limited edition" name. BTW, I actually quite like the 612 Sessanta.
You're very right my friend. The financial down turn has dented the Ferrari market which has now suffering further corrosion due to new entrants such as the SLS, R8 V10 and MP4-12C. with everyone's feet back on earth, F430 spiders are no longer inflated to prices above a used Carrera GT. And gone are the days when a 12 month old 599GTB is fetching for twice the MRSP on ebay. I occasionally see the California around here but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the order books have empty slots as potential California owners have moved their orders over to the 458 or waiting list for the 458 Spider. The Ferrari bubble has bursted as speculators are now few. Have a look around and you'll see plenty of Californias and Scuderia's on dealer floors
After seeing the California on the road a few times now I kinda like it. Its strange because it works specifically in White or in truly dark colors only. The next AMG SL clearly has its work cut out for it. M
