Ammon News - DUBAI (The National) - Ferrari sales in the Middle East raced to a 39 per cent increase year on year in the first half of 2013 - the biggest rise for the company anywhere in the world.

The Italian company sold 264 cars in the region during the period.

"I think that the confidence index has stabilised itself in the Middle East," said a spokeswoman for Ferrari.

"People are more eager to purchase expensive goods without being judged, unlike Europe for example, where the situation is still fragile and people do not want to take risks."

Ferrari opened a Middle East office in Dubai 2008 with the aim of increasing sales in the region. It sold a record 556 cars last year.

However, the Middle East would likely be affected by a move to limit production this year to protect the brand's exclusivity, added the spokeswoman.

"I think that we will have to stabilise the number of cars that we are selling in the Middle East," she said.

Analysts say that the Middle East figures are no surprise and supercars are selling well across the region, particularly in the UAE.

"Abu Dhabi is the key promising market for supercars like Ferrari and McLaren, in fact McLaren's 12C Coupe and 12C Spider have witnessed double-digit growth in Q1 2013.

These supercar manufacturers have picked the Middle East [in markets including Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Kuwait and Riyadh] as their key markets to strengthen their brand image," said Subhash Joshi, a transport analyst at the consultancy Frost & Sullivan.

After the Middle East, Japan had the largest sales increase for Ferrari, with 172 deliveries in the first six months, a rise of 28 per cent, returning to near pre-financial crisis levels.

North America remained the largest market. Ferrari sold 1,048 cars in the United States and Canada , an increase of 9 per cent. In Great Britain the brand sold 415 cars, a rise of 6 per cent, while sales in Germany remained stable at 388 vehicles, matching 2012 figures.

In its home market of Italy, sales continued to fall, with 116 cars delivered, just 3 per cent of total volumes. And in Greater China, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, just under 350 cars were sold in the first half, 50 fewer than last year. The was mainly because of a decision to decrease deliveries to Hong Kong, and fears over tightening up on taxes on luxury goods, said the company.

Ferrari's trading profit rose by 22 per cent to €176 million (Dh857.4m) in the first half, while net profits stood at €116.2m, an increase of 20 per cent. Revenues rose more than 7 per cent to €1.17 billion.