Ferrari sees flat 2008 sales at least

PARIS (Reuters) - Ferrari said on Wednesday it should be able to sell the same number of cars -- if not more -- in 2008 as it did last year, but it stopped short of making a forecast for 2009 due to the global financial crisis.

"We assume to be able to end 2008 more or less with the same numbers in terms of volume or probably something better, but ... it's better to wait until the end of the year," Chief Executive Amedeo Felisa told the Reuters Autos Summit.

"It is difficult to make a forecast for next year," he added.

In 2007, the Italian luxury sports car maker controlled by Fiat (FIA.MI) sold 6,465 units.

Felisa said Ferrari's strategy to expand into emerging markets where demand for luxury cars is strong could help compensate for any possible drop in sales in the United States as a result of the crisis.

"The idea is to cover as many different regions as possible to reduce the risk (posed by) the economic situation," he said.

"What we have is a market that is less strong in the U.S. ... (while) in Europe it is more normal," he said. "But we have a strong market in eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Far East.

"The United States market is (still) to be understood by seeing what happens in the next few months," he added.

The United States is Ferrari's biggest market.

Felisa said he was "positive" about 2009 because the launch of the California convertible held the promise of giving a boost to sales.

Ferrari will unveil the car with a V8 engine at the Paris show on Thursday. The two-seater is similar to the 1957 250 California in name only.

Felisa said it would be put on sale in Europe in early 2009 and elsewhere in the world later in the summer.

Production numbers would depend on demand.

"Depending on how many the market wants, we can imagine a few thousand cars -- like two to three thousand," he said.

The California would compete against the likes of the Porsche (PSHG_p.DE) Turbo and the Mercedes SL (DAIGn.DE), he said.

Like other luxury car makers, Ferrari prefers to sell fewer cars than the market would want, leading to a big order book and a waiting list of about a year.

Felisa declined to comment on the likelihood of the crisis hurting future orders or those already on the books.

"It depends on what is happening," he said. "If you made me the question two months ago, I would have said probably we are not really affected to what is happening.

"(But) with what has happened in the last three weeks on Wall Street, it is better not to make a forecast," he said.

In the first half of this year, Ferrari sold 3,506 cars, up 4.2 percent from the same period last year.

Net revenues totaled 969 million euros, up 20.5 percent.

Trading profit gained 62.4 percent to 164 million euros.

Its latest models include the 430 Scuderia, the 612 Scaglietti, and the 599 GTB Fiorano.

(Reporting by Gilles Castonguay; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)