LUXURY car dealer Normal Elkordi has never seen it this bad - financial high-flyers feeling the pinch of the global economic meltdown scrambling to sell their Ferraris for a loss.

"We're not talking Holdens or Fords here, we're talking Aston Martins, we're talking Ferraris," he told news agency AFP. "I've never seen it like this before."

As anxiety grips world financial markets and stock prices crash, the Sydney- based dealer is seeing more young executives come into his showroom, hoping to offload their near-new prestige cars.

"These blokes have probably lost a lot of money in shares, their bonuses come on shares," Mr Elkordi said. "I'm not saying they can't make the repayments and they are going to get repossessed, it's just they have to get rid of that debt."

The dealer said that cars are more easily dispensed with than other items and sellers are willing to give them up despite the loss. In the last month he has taken on six or seven such cars - paying only up to two-thirds of their original cost - and turned away three or four more.

"Who am I going to sell them to?" he asked. "I've got over A$5 million (S$4.8 million) sitting on the floor and we're not selling any cars of our own."

A spokesman for Ferrari in the Asia-Pacific region said however they expected sales to remain strong in China. "Ours is a niche brand and if you are the type of person who can afford to wait 10-15 months for a car, you can still afford it."