China expected to be Ferrari’s 5th largest market in 5 years

Ferrari expects its China sales to grow 50% this year and predicts the country will be its fifth, or even fourth, largest market in five years, China Business News reported, citing newly appointed Ferrari Global CEO Amedeo Felisa. China is now Ferrari’s eighth largest market. “We hope to see the Asia Pacific market overtake the US in three to five years,” Felisa told the newspaper. “China was our fastest growing market last year.” The Italian sports car maker has dealerships in 10 mainland cities, namely Beijing, Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. It delivered 180 units to Chinese customers in 2007, up from 121 in 2006. Ferrari’s gross profit jumped 45.5% to US$411.18 million on US$2.58 billion in revenues last year. It budgeted US$462.19 billion in research and development.