Ferrari's local dealers in court
2009-01-26 10:23
It sounds like a bad Martin Scorsese script, but Ferrari’s two South African dealerships are seeing each other in the Cape high court today.
Gauteng based Rosso Sport Auto alleges its clientele are being siphoned off by Cape Town based Viglietti Motors.
Vigliette, as any local Italian car nut knows, is also the sole official importer of Ferrari and Maserati to South Africa, and the family business (five brothers in fine Italian ‘style’) has been caring for famous Italian cars locally near on 35 years.
Viglietti retails Maserati products in Gauteng from its Bryanston premises; one of the few stand-alone Maserati dealerships globally.
Subverting customers?
Essentially the dispute between Rosso Sport Auto stems from Viglietti’s import and distribution relationship. As the agreement stands, Rosso Sport Auto is the retailer for all of South Africa outside the Western Cape - constituting most of the buying power. Viglietti is allegedly straining this relationship.
Rosso has alleged Vigliette is attempting to subvert its customer base by disseminating information to customers on Rosso’s waiting list that their cars are in fact not allowed to be retailed through the Gauteng dealership or officially serviced there. This alleged state of affairs caused a number of customers to cancel their orders.
The issue of waiting list shenanigans resurfaced in Rosso boss, Pietro Giovanelli’s official affidavit. With significant demand, and limited supply, prospective Ferrari owners pay significant sums to leapfrog to the top of waiting lists for new models.
Giovanelli alleges Viglietti has used the large waiting list deposits (between R50 000 and R100 000) to run its business, instead of depositing the money in a trust account for the prospective buyers.
The Cape based dealer also allegedly sells Ferrari’s to speculative buyers, who then (in a fashion not at all dissimilar to high-stakes property speculators) resell the vehicles to customers already on the waiting list – this is in direct contravention of Ferrari policy.
With Gauteng constituting the economic hub of Africa, it’s not surprising to see conflict in the current state of affairs, where the distribution rights of such bespoke products, and the highest potential retail yield area, are essentially in competition with each other.
