Of all the luxury brands that target the Middle East, and the UAE, in particular, Ferrari seems to have the greatest hold on the imagination of consumers here.

If you spend 10 minutes on the roads, you can see a Ferrari nearly every day in Abu Dhabi, and in some parts of the capital it seems as you might see one every few blocks.

So it was no surprise that The National’s business department today reported that Ferrari enjoyed record sales in the Gulf in 2012.

Ferrari delivered 7,318 “road cars” in 2012, and a record 556 of them went to the Middle East. That means 7.6 percent of all Ferraris went to a region with about 25 million citizens — about 0.35 percent of the world’s population.

The story reports that “Ferrari” was recently voted the world’s “most powerful brand”, beating out Google and Coke.

Ferrari owns this country, certainly, and the UAE embraces car culture at least as avidly as does, say, Southern California. Lots of money here, lots of open roads, lots of young men driving very fast — especially when they are behind the wheel of a $300,000 car.

And if you can’t drive one, you can buy a Ferrari-red baseball cap, which are a cliche accessory for male Emirati teens, or even visit Ferrari World, the brand’s theme park on Yas Island, where the F1 race is held every November and Ferrari’s prancing pony is the favorite car in the paddock. It is absolutely no coincidence that Ferrari’s only theme park is in the UAE.

The United States remains the No. 1 market for Ferraris, with around 2,000 sold in the States in 2012 — but the U.S. is a nation of 300 million; the UAE has about 1 million citizens.

If you want to a chicken in every pot and a Ferrari in every garage … the UAE is the place to be.