2024 Ferrari Program Asks Customers To Rat Out Counterfeit Cars, T-Shirts And Hats

Classic Ferraris can be among the most valuable vehicles in the world, with some fetching tens of millions of dollars. That value also makes them a prime target for counterfeiters. Ferrari is so determined to preserve the authenticity of its vehicles that it smashes potential counterfeits into cubes.

Ferrari despised counterfeits. Perhaps even more than most companies.

“Given that Ferrari is one of the strongest luxury brands in the world, it is among the ‘Made in Italy’ companies that is most subject to counterfeiting and unauthorized use of its distinctive signs in general, not only in the automotive sector but also in fashion and merchandising,” an email from a spokesperson for Ferrari to CNN stated.

To prevent these types of fakes from depleting the brand’s value, Ferrari has launched a program that enlists the assistance of Ferrari owners and fans – known as Ferraristi by the company and its followers – in detecting fakes ranging from cars to golf carts to Ferrari-branded kitchen appliances. (Seriously, Ferrari claims to have discovered a counterfeit Ferrari-branded refrigerator.

Ferrari | PixaBay Image

Ferrari Program Asks Customers To Rat Out Counterfeit Cars, T-Shirts And Hats

“We have received over a thousand notifications since we started the project and have thus been able to take action against a number of businesses selling counterfeit products,” a spokeswoman told me.

No specifics were revealed about the firms or items Ferrari had investigated or destroyed.

Potential informants can exchange information about potential counterfeit Ferrari products on a website designed specifically for this purpose. Potential whistleblowers are promised an unspecified “complementary Ferrari gadget” in exchange for useful information. Ferrari has yet to reveal the present, although it will likely be more expensive than the same device without the Ferrari brand. That is the entire point of all this.

How to Fake a Car
While manufacturing fake products can be as simple as putting an unlicensed Ferrari prancing horse logo on a product, creating a convincing imitation Ferrari car can be considerably more difficult.

Outright collector car fraud, in which someone tries to pass off a fake as a highly collectible automobile, is unusual, according to Brian Rabold, vice president of automotive intelligence at Hagerty, a collector car insurer. However, this is common.

“Given the value of these cars, there is often enough of a financial incentive to tempt unethical people to try to misrepresent or fake a car,” Rabold told me. “If criminals will forge a Matisse, they’ll try with one of Enzo (Ferrari)’s creations as well.”

It would be difficult, however, because anyone with the means and contacts to even be looking for such a vehicle would be the type of person most suited to detect a forgery.

Ferrari Program Asks Customers To Rat Out Counterfeit Cars, T-Shirts And Hats

“Generally, the Ferrari collector tends to have a considerable knowledge over the brand as a whole and its cars, especially the most valuable ones,” a representative told me. “In addition, collectors tend to know who owns the rarest models and therefore it would be highly unlikely that, for example, someone with a replica 250 GTO (just 36 cars were built in period) would be able to pass it off as an original car.”

Far more common than outright fake Ferrari cars are replicas, which, while resembling Ferraris, are not sold to customers as the genuine article. Ferrari also takes exception to such, and has sued corporations for creating or presenting them, but not always successfully.

Ferrari posted a snapshot of a red car smashed into a crinkled metal cube to demonstrate the doom that awaits any fake Ferrari automobiles discovered. However, the car was not involved in any unlawful activity in that case. It was a fake 1957 Ferrari built with the company’s permission for the 2023 Michael Mann film, “Ferrari.” “As part of an agreement between the filmmakers and the Italian automaker, all the prop cars were destroyed once filming was completed in order to prevent them from ever entering the collector car market.”

SOURCE | CNN