Ferrari Declares War On Replica Supercars

The Ferrari brand is one of the automotive world’s most storied, and that reputation and image has been carefully curated through decades of passionate engineering and racing along with carefully calculated marketing strategies. Rather than build their own brand, many counterfeiters ride on Maranello’s coattails, producing fake parts and even full replicas of the automaker’s sports cars, and Ferrari has had enough. Last year, it tracked down and destroyed three cars, one of which was a convincing replica of the 360 Modena. While modern supercars like the 296 GTB are too complex and too fast to convincingly recreate, replicas based on older cars are becoming more of a challenge to spot.

Cars, Clothing, And Even A Refrigerator Have Been Faked

Naturally, some cars slip through the cracks and are only identified as fakes post-sale, at which point a very uncomfortable discussion takes place with the unfortunate buyer, who has often laid out a large sum of money for their Faux-rrari. Naturally, such a buyer is typically very reluctant to destroy what cost them so much to acquire, even with the knowledge that it is a fake, and in those cases, Daneo says that Ferrari will “rigorously apply the rules and make the buyer understand the legal consequences they are facing.”

Producing a highly detailed replica with apparently original chassis components is a complex task in itself, and we’ve seen several examples of obviously unoriginal Ferrari supercars over the years, but these egregious attempts at imitation are not as much of a concern, particularly if they’re just for fun and are not being sold commercially or marketed as true Ferraris. Much more prevalent and difficult to track down is fake merchandise, and Ferrari reports that it destroyed over 400,000 fake items last year, including over 100,000 clothing items, nearly 61,000 wristwatches, over 17,000 pairs of shoes, tens of thousands of perfumes, and even a fake refrigerator. Over 13,000 fake websites were taken down, too.

Even Ferrari-Approved Replicas Are Destroyed

An article in The Official Ferrari Magazine reveals that even the fiberglass-bodied replicas built for Michael Mann’s film about the life of Enzo Ferrari were destined for dismantling and destruction before shooting even started – there was never any chance that Ferrari would allow these visually similar replicas to continue existing post-production. The same article also reiterates that modified Ferrari supercars will always be barred from official events, and sometimes, the consequences can be even worse.

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Of course, Ferrari cannot be everywhere all at once, and this will always be an ongoing battle. To that end, Maranello is asking for your help and launched the Anti-Counterfeiting Reward project last year, encouraging fans of the brand to report counterfeiting activity in return for a gift. We don’t know what gift you might get, but you can be sure it won’t be fake.