Italian luxury automaker Ferrari RACE is world-renowned for making some of the most powerful, expensive, exclusive, and iconic cars ever made.
Having the opportunity to purchase one is a privilege in itself. The company's backlog of orders currently stretches two years, and some of its most expensive and powerful models, like the ultra-limited F80, are reserved for the prancing horse's most loyal and dedicated customers.
Worst of all, they sell out before they garner headlines and grace the covers of car magazines.
Ferrari knows that Ferraris are desirable, and much more than that, they know that their buyers have fat wallets and very little self-control.
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Best of all, they know that some buyers would move mountains to ensure their prancing horse is unlike any other "regular" Ferrari that might park next to them.
For these kinds of customers, Ferrari has two different in-house customization programs, "Atelier" and "Tailor Made," which allow owners to go absolutely buck wild when it comes to designing the sports car of their dreams.
But while a normal manufacturer like Honda (HMC) would let buyers choose between 7 exterior colors and two interior colors for a Civic, Ferrari allows its customers to choose from over 160 colors for the exterior, and interior surfaces finished in materials beyond leather, including wool, cashmere, corduroy and even denim.
Customers have free will and enough money to do what they want with their Ferraris. However, CEO Benedetto Vigna recognizes that some customers get carried away, and he wants to do something about it.
Ferrari CEO: You can have any color you want, as long as it's not flashy
According to a report from The Telegraph, Ferrari plans to police its customers' more "garish" color choices, as the brand's bigwigs fear that these cars could damage the brand.
Vigna noted that he considered this after personalization requests went through the roof. However, he feels that simplifying and having some control of the brand's color choices has some benefits.
"We have been thinking internally maybe to pre-define the [color] combinations," Vigna told The Telegraph. "We have to pay attention because we have to defend the values and the identity of the brand. We will not make a strange car, for sure."
The Ferrari CEO recognized that buyers who opt to personalize their cars don't always dive straight into the deep end of bad taste. Some buyers in certain places like their cars a certain way, while some in other countries have to be talked out of choosing more flashy designs.
"There are some places in the world where they like to have a set menu. There are other places where they want à la carte and to be free to select what they want," he said.
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Apart from simplifying and looking over the shoulders of its customers and monitoring the brand's color palette, Ferrari plans to look after its cars after it leaves the Maranello factory and the dealers. Customers who go too far customizing their cars risk being blacklisted from buying future Ferraris.
As per the CEO, policing what its customers do to their cars is not just to protect Ferrari's elite image and rich racing heritage but also to maintain its resale feasibility when it comes time to trade them in for new Ferraris.
To the Telegraph, he compared the "diminished appeal of an overly personalized car" to a soccer jersey with someone else's name on the back.
“There are some combinations that are not liked or loved by the second potential buyer,” he said.
フェラーリならぬpurrari くん
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Ferrari has previously taken legal action against people who "took it too far"
Ferrari being over-protective of its precious brand image is a record that seasoned car enthusiasts have heard before. In the past, they have taken legal action against owners for personalizing their Ferraris.
In 2014, the prancing horse served multi-Grammy nominated Canadian EDM DJ Deadmau5 (pronounced 'dead mouse,' real name Joel Zimmerman) a cease-and-desist order for his customizations outside the factory. The "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" DJ wrapped his Ferrari 458 Italia—aptly named 'Purrari'—in special graphics paying tribute to the Nyan Cat internet meme, replaced the badges with custom 'Purrari' badges, emblems and matching floor mats.
"I wonder if the jackass lawyer at @FerrariUSA who sent us a "cease and desist" letter over the purrari is un-butthurt now that I unwrapped," he wrote on Twitter (now called X) on August 27, 2014.
"Yeah it was mostly about the custom floor matts and the custom purrari badges. Whatever. It's just a normal ass 458 now. All good," he wrote in a subsequent post the same day.
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In a July 2015 post on Instagram, he revealed that he replaced the Ferrari with a Lamborghini with the same livery.
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Other luxe brands are catching up
Despite its policing of customized cars, Ferrari's "personalization" business accounts for a significant chunk of its numbers.
In 2024, Ferrari sold just 13,752 vehicles but grossed around €1.3 billion ($1.35 billion) from personalization last year, accounting for about a fifth of overall revenues at the prancing horse.
Ferrari is far from the only luxe car manufacturer that earns a significant amount from customers taking their time with paint colors and the options book, as other prestigious brands are seeing the value in personalization and customization and are making investments to do so.
For instance, BMW-owned Rolls Royce announced in January 2024 that it invested £300 million ($376 million) in its U.K. Goodwood factory. The factory will focus on "bespoke" models, which can add hundreds of thousands to sticker prices already well above mid-six figures.
In a recent interview by German business publication Manager Magazin, Rolls Royce CEO Chris Brownridge was asked if allowing a certain level of customization made Rolls Royce walk "a fine line" when coming to grips with "good taste." He shot down the suggestion.
"I don’t see any risk there and we are not the taste police. Every Rolls-Royce is individually tailored to the customer’s wishes. If you prefer a dark car with an understated design, you can have that," he said.
Ferrari NV is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as (RACE) .
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