It's not about money, this conglomerate was refused to buy a rare Ferrari

Jakarta –

Not everyone with money can buy a Ferrari. The proof, David Lee, a luxury watch and jewelry entrepreneur from the United States it took more than 5 years to get, the LaFerrari Aperta.

The LaFerrari Aperta is a limited edition car that only made 200 units. Prospective owners must also be selected first by Ferrari to enter the VIP list.

Quoted from Autoevolution, Thursday (3/3/2022) David Lee was rejected by Ferrari to buy the LaFerrari Aperta. In fact, he is a hard-line Ferrari by collecting cars from the Maranello manufacturer worth US $ 50 million.

Ferrari introduced the open-top version of the LaFerrari, the Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta at the highly exclusive 2016 Paris Motor Show, only 200 of which will be made to the public.

All prospective VIP customers have received an invitation to purchase a La Ferrari Aperta. But David Lee wasn’t in the queue.

One year later, the LA Times ran a story about the strange occurrence, with the headline, “He owns a dozen Ferraris and has a lot of money. Why can’t he buy a LaFerrari Aperta?”.

The LA Times quoted several longtime observers of the elite sports car environment, saying one of them was Lee’s lifestyle, which liked to show off his Ferrari on his social media accounts.

“The factory doesn’t like the publicity it creates,” said a source close to Ferrari.

“They hate all noise, and he (Lee) loves all noise,” the source added.

Petersen Automotive Museum collector and board member Bruce Meyer sympathizes with the storied Italian company’s attempts to control its own destiny.

“They’ve tried to keep their cars in good hands, and they’ve done a great job of maintaining the brand of exclusivity,” said Meyer, who keeps several highly prized Ferraris in his Beverly Hills stable.

But the argument is considered to make Ferrari angry. David Lee is considered to have deliberately used the media to press for the LaFerrari Aperta.

“At that time the Los Angeles Times was reporting too much on me so they felt I was using the media to get a car,” said David Lee.

Production of the La Ferrari Aperta ended in 2018, but it took Lee years to get things right with Ferrari again, and finally get the car of his dreams.

Lee said the dealer wouldn’t even take his calls. In the end, he had to sit down with Ferrari officials so he could explain his position.

“Even though they understand, they still don’t like it and it took a few years to come back [ke posisi yang baik],” said Lee quoted by Carbuzz, Thursday (3/3/2022).

After years of buying another Ferrari car to improve his name, he was finally offered the LaFerrari Aperta.

“I have bought and represented them well … they offered me a limited edition car,” said Lee.

Powered by an electrically assisted 950-hp 6.3-liter V12 engine, the very rare Aperta can hit 62 mph in 2.8 seconds before hitting an astonishing 218 mph. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual clutch transmission. With an estimated price of about US $ 2 million. Lee was quite happy his efforts had finally paid off.