Why pink Ferraris are officially off limits (2024)

Justin Bieber has one. So does One Direction's Harry Styles. It goes without saying that Kim Kardashian drives one, because she is the ultimate consumer of luxury designer goods, although it should also be noted that hers is not pink.

That's because when you buy a Ferrari – a car that will set you back almost $410,000 for a California T and $2.5 million if the company deems you eligible for its limited edition LaFerrari – there's a certain protocol that must be followed. Rule number one: no pink Ferraris allowed.

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"We do reject the exterior colour pink," explains Ferrari Australasia's President and CEO Herbert Appleroth. "You can of course paint your car pink after you've bought it, but you'll never see a pink car from us because it's not in line with our brand ethos and our standards."

Custom colours

Apart from that constraint, Ferrari can cater to most whims, and the Melbourne Zagame showroom has its Ferrari Atelier area dedicated to customisation. "That's a big part of our business – every Ferrari should be individual and unique; there should be no two Ferraris that are the same," Appleroth says.

However, there's no accounting for taste: one Ferrari enthusiast designed his car as an ode to racing driver Niki Lauda, using the same colour combination in which the Austrian won his 1975 world championship (above). Another who had ordered a Ferrari 458 Spider decided to run with the arachnid theme, turning it into an Australian spider by painting it with a "red back" (below).

Appleroth was concerned when a regular customer insisted he wanted a yellow car with a blue and burgundy interior, but was swayed when the client said, "this will be my last Ferrari, and I will be buried in this car. I don't care what the resale value is, because this is my last dream automobile." Wish: granted.

Viva LaFerrari

But there's no such thing as a customer who has everything, as least as far as Ferrari goes. When the most recent uber-Ferrari was released - the LaFerrari is a Batmobile-esque vehicle with winged doors and a pricetag of $2.5 million – only 499 were produced worldwide. As such, a strict selection process took place: potential customers were invited to purchase a LaFerrari, but to qualify for that invitation list they needed to have bought five brand new Ferraris in their lifetime, own five currently, and to have bought one new one in the past two years.

Once buyers are part of the Ferrari owner's club – "the Ferrari family", as Appleroth calls it – an array of exclusive invitations follow. (This occurs after a would-be owner is able to track the building of his own Ferrari online, complete with photos and updates he can share with friends in a way "that's not really unlike having a new baby," says Appleroth.)

"Our job is to continually delight our clients beyond their expectations, so it's not only the product that is special in itself, but the experiences we create."

Above and beyond

That might include getting a personalised tour of the Ferrari factory in Maranello, venturing to the Monaco Grand Prix to be in the Ferrari F1 paddock suite, doing a driver training course on the official Ferrari F1 test track, or experiencing a balsamic tasting in the foothills outside Maranello. (Cost of the last: $AUD 70,100.)

You’ll never see a pink car from us because it’s not in line with our brand ethos and our standards.

CEO Herbert Appleroth

In recent years Ferrari has broadened its audience, recently collaborating with fashion brand Tod's (leather driving shoes, anyone?) and ensuring its products are front and centre in various Xbox and PlayStation games. There's even Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, an automotive version of Disneyland, with rides that include Formula Rossa, the world's fastest jet-coaster, which can accelerate to 240km/h in under five seconds.

A mobile investment

If buying a Ferrari seems like an indulgence, consider it instead as an investment. "What happens is a phenomenon that's only for Ferrari," Appleroth says. "After about three or four years, you actually see the value of the car appreciating, due to the scarcity of the cars that are on the marketplace.

"If you look at classic Ferraris, cars that were costing ten thousand pounds thirty years ago are now worth 30, 40 or 50 million dollars for cars such as the Ferrari 250 GTO. We're even seeing Dinos which were worth $100,000 six years ago, now they're over $400,000."

But for a Ferrari aficionado, it's all about a deep – sometimes irrational – passion. Appleroth himself hung a Ferrari poster on his childhood bedroom wall, and scraped every penny he earned so that by the time he was 26, he could own that car for himself.

"I bought a Ferrari before I bought a house," he says. "Our clients are extremely loyal. Once they join the family, we never want them to leave. And they don't, if we've done our job correctly."

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