The Italian car-maker Ferrari Maserati is to try to cash in on Moscow’s metamorphosis from the crumbling capital of an impoverished superpower into a decadent playground for the super-rich.
The maker of sports cars which can cost anything from £80 000 (R960 000) to £400 000 (R4 800 000) has announced that it is to open its first Russian showroom in May. Another showroom will be opened in central Moscow by the cars’ official importer — Mercury — before the end of the year.
Despite the cars’ price tags, Ferrari Maserati is confident that it will sell around 100 vehicles this year and 150 in 2005. It says there is a long waiting list for various models and that an unspecified but significant number of cars have already been sold. ”The Russian market has enormous potential,” said Antonio Ghini, the firm’s communication director.
Russia will be the 50th country where Ferrari Maserati deigns to enter the local market. It claims it is only responding to ”very high demand and strong market interest”. The firm has already held a lavish market launch in the vicinity of Moscow’s famous Tretyakov art gallery which attracted the attention of many a curious Muscovite.
Four cars — a Ferrari 575M Maranello, a 360 Modena, a Maserati Quattroporte and a Spyder Cambiocorsa — drove across northern Europe to attend the event driving ostentatiously onto Moscow’s Red Square and St Petersburg’s Palace Square. Along with China, Russia has been identified by Ferrari as one of its most important future markets.
The reason is simple — the Russian economy is growing by 7% a year and the number of wealthy oligarchs who have made their money from exploiting the country’s natural resources is growing at a phenomenal rate.
Forbes magazine’s 18th annual survey of the world’s wealthiest people confirmed the trend this month, showing that the number of Russian billionaires had risen to 25 from 17 the previous year.
At least a third of Russians still live below the poverty line, however, and Moscow’s streets are still dominated by grimy old Ladas and dilapidated Soviet-era vehicles.
For the capital’s wealthy few life in the fast lane is very different. They drive top of the range cars with specially purchased flashing blue lights on the roof to exempt themselves from the rules of the road. – Guardian Unlimited Â