Maranello Mayor Puts An End To Local Rent-A-Ferrari Businesses

Ferrari’s birthplace is not what it used to be as the sound coming from various supercars overwhelms residents of the small Italian city.

Enthusiasts from all over the world head to Maranello to test Ferrari’s models as test-drive business are cashing in on the global appeal of supercars.

Similar rent-a-Ferrari enterprises exist in other cities across the globe, from London to Paris and Las Vegas. Nothing beats driving a Prancing Horse on the hallowed grounds of its birthplace, though.

For a 10-minute run in an F430 Spider, petrolheads have to pay €80 ($85,) and for a two-hour spin in the more impressive 458 Speciale the price rises to €1,400 ($1,485). All test drives are accompanied by a trained race car driver and no no significant accidents have occurred so far around Maranello. Nevertheless, as the local authorities point out, residents are overwhelmed by the noise produced by revving supercars.

“They are obviously big cylinder cars that are very powerful, and they are circulating on the same streets with regular traffic”, Massimiliano Morini, the mayor of Maranello, told CNBC. “You can understand that this creates a very big problem of cohabitation for those living nearby who understandably want and have the right to rest“.

More than 450 traffic controls involving supercars were conducted by Maranello’s police in the first 9 months of the year and city statistics indicate that 305 fines were issued over the last 5 years. This didn’t stop enthusiasts from enjoying the exotic cars and it led to Maranello and neighboring Fiorano to cut a couple of hours in early afternoon during which test drives can take place.

Business owners were not happy with the decision: “We are entrepreneurs, and we are in a tourist town, and I can’t promote my business. We have lost 80 percent of business“, said the owner of Pit Lane Red Passion, Maja Corluka Valestri. “It’s like asking a restaurant to close between 1pm and 2pm“, added Stefano Ravazzini, owner of Push-Start.

The local Ferrari test drive businesses arguing the rules are anti-business lost the court battle and are now evaluating the next step to save their investments.