Aldous Voice

Following on from my May Market Watch update I was contacted by a 360 owner who pointed out that the number of cars on our roads today was far less than reportedly imported to the UK during the 360 production run.  This prompted me to do a little more digging…

Before looking at the official VOSA data it is worth noting that Maranello Sales used to publish a pamphlet called “A guide to Ferrari Road Cars” which noted the numbers of each model that they had imported to the UK (they were the sole importer for quite a period of time).  The latest version of this document that I have seen is from 2004, a year before production ceased.  It notes the following numbers:

The page in question is shown below but the quality of the copy is poor.  If anyone has a better copy or indeed one from a later date please do get in touch.

The bottom line is that Maranello Sales claimed to have imported over 2,000 360s into the UK – significantly more than the 991 our government claim to have registered on roads today.  I initially thought that the VOSA data was only available back to 2010 but I was looking in the wrong place.  The data goes back to 1994, although SORN figures are only available back to 2007.  Here’s what I was able to dig out:

The VOSA numbers peak a little above 1,400 cars – much lower than the Maranello numbers at over 2,000.  Initially, I thought that VOSA was not including Spiders as the Model was noted as “360 Modena”.  However it doesn’t explain the difference as Maranello reckon they imported about 1,000 hard tops (including the CS).  Furthermore, I checked a copy of an old registration document for a Spider and the model is noted as a Modena:

I’m at a loss to explain the difference in numbers.  It is entirely possible that government statistics are wrong and some 360s are being lumped together in the “Other” category.  If you own a UK registered 360 I would be interested to know what the model designation is on your V5.

UPDATE:  It appears the DVLA has been registering some Spiders as coupes and some as convertibles.  The registration document above was for my white Spider which is clearly noted as a coupe.  The document below is for a friends Spider and it is clearly noted as a convertible.  However, it doesn’t explain the difference to the Maranello numbers as the model is still noted as 360 Modena and that’s what I have been using from the VOSA statistics.

Another factor that doesn’t inspire confidence in the official numbers is the sawtoothing between the quarterly numbers in recent years – I find it hard to believe that cars are coming back into the country to boost numbers temporarily.  I am interested to know how many have been exported and have an FOI request outstanding with the DVLA  – watch this space….

Sadly, there are only the official numbers to turn to for the F430 but I am hopeful that they are somewhat accurate.  Helpfully the numbers are split between body type and gearbox.

The decline in numbers is much less apparent than the 360 but the total amount of cars is currently down 18% from the peak in 2009.

Despite numbers falling for both the 360 and F430 I don’t think they are going to become rare anytime soon.  There are about 2,300 of them still registered in the UK today – compare that  to 5,300 of all the models over here made prior to the 360.  Coupled with the fact that the 360 heralded an era of reliability means there’ll be many on our roads for a long time to come.

Related posts:

• Ferrari 360 & F430 UK Export Numbers
• Ferrari 360 & F430 UK Production Numbers Update
• Ferrari 360 & F430 Buying Guide
• Ferrari 360 Buying Advice
• Ferrari 360: A Dealers Perspective

Other posts in this category: Buying and Selling

Pistonheads price threads:

• F430 Prices
• 458 Prices

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