Ferrari and Maserati plan fresh start in India

After the sole distributor for Ferrari and Maserati, the Shreyans Group went bust and disappeared almost overnight, leaving customers in the lurch, both these legendary Italian marques are  now gearing up to  make good.

The plan is to initially appoint two dealers, one in Delhi and the other in Mumbai, before moving to other cities. Unconfirmed reports say that Ferrari has already appointed Navnit Motors in Mumbai, and that the dealer has already identified a location at Bandra-Kurla Complex. Although the building is still under construction, it is expected to be ready and inaugurated by March 2015.

The proposed dealer for Delhi is Yadur Kapur, who sells super-luxury brands such as Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce in the city. Navnit Motors, on the other hand, sells Mini, BMW, Land Rover and Rolls-Royce cars between Mumbai and Delhi.

Meanwhile, Maserati is also in the process of setting up its own sales company in the country,  and should be ready to start selling its cars by the second half of 2015.

In the absence of Ferrari, brands such as Lamborghini took advantage and grabbed a large portion of the minuscule super-sports car segment. However, in India, Ferrari’s fan following amongst the super-rich is still strong despite reports of owners being harrowed for delivery of their cars and a lack of service infrastructure. In fact, Shreyans is understood to be still sitting on large customer deposits and it’s only legal recourse that coaxes the rogue dealer to reimburse payments. Also, with no after-sales facilities, customers have been forced to go to independent and unauthorised workshops for service and maintenance.

Ferrari will first have to sort out the issues its current customers are facing before it can streamline its new setup in India.