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Luxury carmakers go extra mile to make buyers king of the road

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 11, 2006

LOS ANGELES - There's a TV ad in which a boy about 12 years old is shown riding his bike to the doors of a Porsche showroom. He gets behind the wheel of a 911 sports car, then asks the salesman for a business card.

"Thanks. See you in about 20 years," he says.

For most people, 20 years won't be long enough to save for a $95,900 Porsche 911 Targa 4S, one of several high-performance luxury cars that made their North American debuts last month at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The Porsche, with its retractable glass roof, 355 horsepower engine and top track speed of 179 mph, is a relative bargain among the high-end cars at the show.

Some of the cars run upward of $300,000. With beautiful leather interiors and head-turning looks, most claim to be top performers.

Some have 12-cylinder engines with more than 600 horsepower and can go from zero to 60 mph in less than four seconds. Others are practically street-legal race cars.

Lamborghini S.p.A. president and chief executive Stephan Winkelmann said sales in the United States and elsewhere are growing along with world wealth. Even though he has models that run well above $300,000, including the new Murcielago LP 640 Roadster, U.S. sales are up more than 50 percent so far this year.

People who buy Lamborghinis and the other models indeed are unique. Winkelmann said those who will purchase the 850 cars he expects to sell this year in the United States typically are male entrepreneurs or self-made millionaires who range in age from 35 to 45.

"They love Italian stuff. They love cars," he said.

They also have two or more autos, and they like exclusivity. Only 100 of the Lamborghini roadsters will be sold in the states, Winkelmann said.

Across the hall at Ferrari, exclusivity also is the attraction. Last year the company sold only 1,550 cars in the United States and Canada, but it's on pace to exceed that this year.

For prices ranging from $175,000 to more than $300,000, you get uniqueness. Every car is custom-built, with buyers picking from a dozen leather colors and 13 colors of stitching. If those aren't enough, Ferrari lets buyers pick their own thread.

"We're exclusive. We know that. We understand that," said spokesman Andrew Shaffer.

So exclusive that while rolling out the new two-seat 599 GTB Fiorano in Los Angeles, Ferrari S.p.A. general manager Amedeo Felisa said the company was under pressure in Europe to build lower-cost cars.

"We are not developing a cheap Ferrari," he said.

[Last modified December 11, 2006, 07:00:37]