Think there's already a high bar in owning a Ferrari? Well, grab a pole vault, because that bar just got raised. The exclusive Italian automaker has decided its next vehicular masterpiece will only be available to a select and invited few. That's right folks, if you don't get an invite, you're not eligible to buy one, even if you're good for it and flush with cash.

No problem, surely Ferrari plans on sending out hundreds of invites, right? Wrong.

Only a super-select six lucky luxury lovers will be able to get their hands on a golden ticket invite to buy the Ferrari Sergio. Even worse news, if you were still hoping to be among the six in six billion, is that all the invites have already been sent out, and all the concept cars unveiled at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, are already spoken for.

Spokespeople for Ferrari have told press that the final orders are being confirmed and that production will begin "shortly," so that the car can make its way to clients next year. The car, designed in collaboration with Italian firm Pininfarina, is said to cost millions of dollars, though Ferrari won't say how many millions.

Ferrari currently manufactures more than 6,000 cars a year, mostly out of its cutting-edge, energy-efficient fab in Maranello, Italy. Much of the car assembly process is even performed by robots with little to no human intervention at all.

Some seasoned Ferrari enthusiasts and owners, however, are being left with a bit of a bad taste from the tactic. "Ferrari has been known to show preferential treatment to qualified customers with long purchasing track records and/or huge Ferrari collections," auto enthusiast, sound engineer, and artist Anthony Ray (AKA Sir Mix-A-Lot), told Design News. "They are doing this currently with "LaFerrari" which is a gorgeous car but you have to be in the right circles to purchase one. Not Cool ... to me."

Ray noted that while he does understand Ferrari wanting to show loyalty to their returning customers, this was also most likely the reason Ferrari owners tended to be a bit older and don't drive their cars as much as, say, a Lamborghini owner. Potential new buyers need to see themselves in alignment with the brand, he noted.

"Tech money is not stuffy and elitist. To penetrate that market you'll need something other than 'give us $6mil and you're one of us' gimmicks," Ray said. "I have owned seven Ferraris and I really love the brand but I ain't in the wine and cheese crowd so I own a few other exotics also."

Is this the best Ferrari ever? The firm itself would probably not say so, with founder Enzo Ferrari's famous motto being "the best car is always the next one."

What do you think? Is making this brand new, super-rare Ferari Sergio Invite-Only good, bad, or ugly?

Related posts: