If Ferrari won’t build your custom dream car, the aftermarket will—but it could land you on their blacklist.
The growing popularity of Ferrari’s in-house customization program has become a tricky balancing act. On one hand, allowing deep-pocketed buyers to personalize their cars is a lucrative business. On the other, Ferrari is increasingly concerned that some outlandish requests are diluting its brand image. CEO Benedetto Vigna says the company plans to tackle this issue by learning how to say, grazie, but no grazie.
Rosso Corsa has long been synonymous with Ferrari, but Vigna revealed in an interview with The Telegraph that only about 40% of buyers choose the iconic red today. Many opt for one-off paint colors to stand out, sometimes in ways Ferrari executives find questionable. According to The Telegraph, requests described as “bling,” “strange,” and “garish” are causing unease at Maranello.
“We have been thinking internally about pre-defining color combinations,” Vigna stated. “We must protect the values and identity of the brand. We will not make a strange car, for sure.”
What Does Ferrari Consider “Too Strange”?
While taste is subjective, Ferrari’s definition of “strange” likely refers to excessively flashy or ostentatious designs that clash with its refined reputation. Even within the company, there’s irony—one of the more controversial Ferrari wraps, a green camouflage design, belongs to Lapo Elkann, the brother of Stellantis chairman John Elkann and grandson of Gianni Agnelli.
That said, Ferrari draws a hard line on certain modifications. No matter how much money a client offers, Ferrari won’t paint a car pink. But it can’t reject every customization request outright—after all, the personalization program contributed to 20% of Ferrari’s revenue in 2024 and helped boost profits by 21%. At the end of the day, Ferrari is a business with shareholders to please, making it difficult to turn down eager customers waving blank checks.
The Risk of Aftermarket Customization
If Ferrari won’t build your dream car, there’s always the aftermarket. But going that route could have serious consequences. Vigna told The Telegraph that Ferrari is open to blacklisting buyers who “go too far” with their customizations.
How far is too far? Would an aftermarket exhaust put you on Ferrari’s blacklist? Could a widebody kit on an SF90 get you banned? Hard to say—but some precedent exists. In 2014, Canadian DJ Deadmau5 received a cease-and-desist letter from Ferrari after he wrapped his 458 in a cat-themed design and rebranded it as the Purrari, complete with prancing cat emblems.
Vigna is particularly concerned about the resale market. When a heavily modified Ferrari goes up for sale, it can be difficult to find a second buyer who appreciates the changes. “Some combinations are not liked or loved by the next potential owner,” Vigna explained. Since selling at a discount isn’t an option, and reversing modifications can be prohibitively expensive, Ferrari prefers to prevent such situations in the first place.
Ultimately, Ferrari is determined to preserve its legacy—even if that means telling some customers, no, grazie.
