• WSJ (paid subscription required), Monday, January 23, 2006 12:15 PM

Luxury automakers have discovered that they are not just selling cars, they're selling a lifestyle. After all, anyone who can afford to plunk down $1.1 million for a Ferrari FXX is not your average consumer. As such, automakers like Ferrari, Porsche and Audi are also marketing leather bags, cigar cases, pens, logo wear and other items. Ferrari sells hats, coin purses, key chains, bathrobes and espresso cups, all emblazoned with the brand's distinctive prancing-horse logo. Ferrari wants to take all this a few steps further, says Maurizio Parlato, head of Ferrari North America. One of Ferrari's prize assets is its database of customers--some 20,000 presumably quite affluent individuals. "We are developing ways to contact these people," Mr. Parlato says.

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