So you've won the lottery and gotten your big check. Now you're ready to make your first purchase: the most expensive Ferrari they make. Problem is, one does not simply walk into Maranello and buy the LaFerrari supercar. There are certain requirements that must be met and certain expectations fulfilled before Ferrari will allow you to write it a check for more than a million dollars.
At 950 horsepower, the LaFerrari is the most powerful street-legal Ferrari ever built. It's also one of the most exclusive, with only 499 units being made. Three days after its debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, more than 1,000 people had put in requests to purchase the car.
When it comes to this car, you don't choose Ferrari. Ferrari chooses you. Maranello demands more than a fat bank account to be among the selected. It wants more than fame, too: Several very high-profile buyers requested to purchase one and were turned down, then-Ferrari North America CEO Marco Mattiacci said last year. That means buyers are limited to folks like noted Ferrari enthusiast and Jamiroquai lead singer Jay Kay, and rocker Sammy Hagar.
One of the 499 supercars went to Robert Herjavec, the Croatian-born businessman who made a fortune in Internet security and has become famous with a starring role on ABC's Shark Tank. Earlier this month, he was so excited about the car's arrival, he live-tweeted the unboxing---even though he couldn't be at the dealership to watch it live (they sent him photos as they went).
So what earned Herjavec the right to his car? He’s one of the best Ferrari customers on the planet. Rumor has it that customers must already own five Ferraris to even be considered, and more than that is advised. "You would think that would be a relatively limited group," Herjavec says, but it actually includes thousands of people. So individual Ferrari dealers submit names of their most loyal customers who they think should get one. That list is sent way to Maranello, where corporate bigwigs make the final decisions.
In a collection of fewer than 20 cars, Herjavec has a pile of Ferraris (he wouldn’t give a hard number), including a 1986 Testarossa, 2012 GTO, 2013 599 Aperta, 2011 458 Italia, and 2013 FF (which has “a certain ugliness to it that makes it beautiful”). He has orders placed for the just-announced Ferrari F60 and a Ferrari 458 Speciale. He competes in the Ferrari Challenge, a racing series for Ferrari owners. At a Ferrari party in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, Herjavec says he didn't care about talking to celebrities, he says. He just wanted to meet Pierro Ferrari, Enzo's only living son. Simply put, the man adores Ferraris.
Herjavec first put his name down for the car years ago—well before it made its official Geneva debut. In fact, all 499 LaFerrari's were sold before its public unveiling. "People assume that it's a financial decision, whoever has more money gets one," says Herjavec. "The reality is... they use it as a reward for people who are loyal to the brand." Giving someone the right to pay you more than a million dollars is an odd kind of reward, but given the demand for the vehicle and the fact that it will surely appreciate in worth, it makes sense.
“The funny thing is, you never really know if you're getting one until you're actually getting one,” he says. And you pay for most of it before anything’s guaranteed. Even after Ferrari called Herjavec to say he was on the list (fittingly, he was at the Laguna Seca race circuit at the time), it wasn’t guaranteed. “You know you're getting it but you never know, things could change. You wait for a while, then you kind of get a date range, then you get a closer date, then you get the actual date. Then it's definitely Christmas.”
"This is where the Ferrari world is kind of like the Vatican," Herjavec says. "It's very mysterious. There are a lot of trinkets you have to wear, and a lot of rings you have to kiss." We asked a Ferrari spokesperson how LaFerrari buyers are anointed. "This is not really relevant as all 499 examples of LaFerrari were spoken for upon its debut," she told us.
The right to buy the supercar "rewards people that are true to the brand and a part of it, and understand the car for what it is. You don't see people buying a LaFerrari and saying 'yeah, it's okay." A true gearhead, says Herjavec, doesn't ask how much it costs or what it gets for fuel economy. Instead, they appreciate it as a work of art. "Every owner understands the passion and drive behind the car."
The LaFerrari has lived up to his anticipation. "The most remarkable thing about it is ... the emotion it evokes from other people,” he says. "I'm driving it in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and LA and people are stepping out in the street to see it. They're all happy. You know you have something special when even non-car people smile when they see it."
"It's the most beautiful thing ever created by human hands. It's that beautiful to me. I've seen it a lot of times now that I've had it for a couple of weeks and my raw emotion is as visceral today as when I first saw it years ago."
Though he thinks of it as a piece of art, “the epitome of motor technology today,” and an excellent investment, Herjavec didn't buy the LaFerrari to put it in on display. He bought it to drive. "I used to say that I would never take it on the track," he says, but "now I'm thinking I need to get it on a track. It's the closest thing I've ever gotten to a race car on the street ... I've never driven anything that goes that fast and stops that well."
If Herjavec does head to the track, he ought to be careful. The LaFerrari is so powerful, Formula One driver and former world champion Kimi Raikkonen spun one at Ferrari's Fiorano test track. We’ve seen at least two minor crashes, if you can call a crash minor when it likely requires tens of thousands of dollars in carbon fiber repairs.
Even Herjavec’s friends get to take the LaFerrari out for a drive, after a reminder that it’s an irreplaceable, hugely expensive car, and there’s a $25,000 deductible on the insurance. As a huge fan of the BBC’s Top Gear, Herjavec says he would even lend his love to the show to take a hot lap, under certain conditions. "I would definitely trust The Stig. I don't know if I would trust Jeremy Clarkson."
Herjavec, whose family fled Communist-controlled Yugoslavia with nothing when he was eight, has always loved cars. Today, he collects them because they make him happy. "There's a lot of pain in life. There's a lot of strife. There's a lot of difficulty," he says. "It's okay to have something that you look at every day that does nothing more than put a smile on your face."
"I never go into the garage and see the Ferraris and not smile. Never. I could be having the worst day in the world, I see that car and it makes me smile."
Home Page Photo: Ferrari
