Employees of Ferrari typically aren’t allowed to buy their own brand-new Ferraris. The only exception? Formula One drivers, and even they have to pay the full freight costs for their cars. That’s the gospel according to Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Enrico Galliera, who is often referred to within Maranello as the notorious “Dr. No.”
Galliera’s job with Ferrari is a complicated one that involves numerous roles. But what he’s famously known for is his distinction of being the man who decides which person deserves to own a limited-edition Ferrari. In his conversation with Drive, Galliera explained that certain aspects of his job are made difficult by the fact that not everybody can own a Ferrari model even if these people deserve it. “We have much higher demand than the availability,” he explained. “What we do is identify criteria that is rewarding good customers. The limited edition cars we consider a gift to our best customers." Indeed, these so-called “gifts” come in the form of low-volume supercars that Ferrari clients are more than likely to fight for. The most recent example is the LaFerrari Aperta, the convertible version of the LaFerrari hypercar. Galliera said the most difficult part of is job is rejecting established Ferrari customers, some of whom have been loyal fans of the brand. That tells you how strict Galliera and Ferrari are considering that Lee already has more than a dozen Ferraris to his name, including four new ones he ordered just to improve his rating with the company.
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The man has a tough job
I don’t envy Enrico Galliera’s job. Okay, that’s not true. I actually want his job, stress notwithstanding. I do understand where he’s coming from though, especially considering how many people he’ll have to piss off by rejecting them. It’s not easy being the decision-maker when it comes to figuring out which customer deserves what car and which customer doesn’t get one.
Take a look at that David Lee example. The man, for all intents and purposes, bleeds red. He owns more Ferraris than many of us put together and he’s scooping up four more new ones just because he wants to see his rating within the company improve. The man even owns Michael Schumacher’s Formula One cars from the 2002 F1 season, and he didn’t get a LaFerrari Aperta, largely because he still didn’t qualify in the top 200 of the company’s priority list. Same thing with the late Preston Henn, who owns arguably the most expensive Ferrari in the world right now, a yellow 1964 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale that raced at Le Mans. Like Lee, Henn wasn’t included in the list of people Ferrari asked if they wanted a LaFerrari Aperta. If these two prominent Ferrari collectors couldn’t get their hands on a car like the LaFerrari Aperta, that tells you how seriously Galliera takes his job.
“Normally most of them understand… some of them that are not used to hearing 'no' keep asking,” he added. “The most difficult part of my job is when I join an event and the person is there, and he becomes hard-headed, and he locks onto me and keeps asking and asking."
The fact that even Ferrari employees are not allowed to own new Ferraris tells you how strict Galliera has to be when it comes to allocating the models that come out of Maranello. It’s a tough position to be put in, but somebody has to do it. That responsibility falls on Galliera, who may as well be one of the most important and powerful figures in the company today.
References
Read our full review on the Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta.
Read our full review on the 1964 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale