Luxury at Full Throttle

DETROIT

Take a walk with me down the super-luxury row at the North American International Auto Show. It is an exclusive neighborhood with five of the world's most prestigious automotive marques -- Ferrari, Bentley, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce and Maserati, in that order -- situated side by side.

There has been some speculation, perhaps even some wishful thinking, that the residents of this overwhelmingly well-endowed community might have fallen on hard times or at least encountered some humbling difficulties. Gasoline prices are rising. Housing starts are falling. Global oil supplies are dwindling. And everything in this neighborhood costs more than $100,000, is expensive to insure and maintain, gets low mileage, and uses premium unleaded gasoline.

Surely, says the conventional wisdom of commoners, the residents here must be feeling some pain, or at least a bit irrelevant in a world increasingly worried about the future of oil, resource-based conflicts around the globe and the slow pace of the development of alternative fuels.

I dropped in on the super-rich to chat about all of this. The truth was summed up in a chance meeting at the Ferrari podium with Keith Crain, chairman and chief executive of Crain Communications of Detroit, one of the country's largest publishers of trade and consumer magazines, including Automotive News.

"Does Ferrari have a future?" I asked Crain amid a bevy of splendiferous models, including a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano sporting a new color that Ferrari executives call blu petrolio. "Does Ferrari have a future?" Crain repeated my question. He laughed.

"Of course," Crain said. "There always will be a Ferrari, and the reason for that is simple. There always will be people who want something better than a Timex watch."

A Timex is affordable and reliable. So is a Honda automobile. But buyers of cars such as the 599 GTB Fiorano, a 612-horsepower, V-12 coupe that starts at $255,000 in base form, want much more than affordability and reliability, Crain said. "They want the fastest, most exclusive car they can get," he said.

"What about fuel economy?" I asked.

Maurizio Parlato, president and chief executive of Ferrari North America, answered: "We do not say our cars are for everybody." The elegantly dressed Parlato spoke with the caution of a politician running for office. "It is not that our customers do not care about fuel economy. But, no, it is not their primary concern."

Andrew E. Shaffer, marketing manager and spokesman for Ferrari North America, intervened: "Our customers are very loyal. They see these cars as art pieces, rolling sculpture. The cars can be driven every day, but most of our customers do not use them that way. They usually have several other vehicles for daily use, including Prius cars." Prius is the fuel-efficient, gas-electric compact car sold by Toyota.