Luxury sports carmaker Ferrari thinks it could take 2-3 years for sales to return to levels seen in 2008, its chief executive, Amedeo Felisa said in an interview with Reuters TV.

We don't see any real recovery until next year, the middle of next year, Felisa said. Probably it needs 2 or 3 years to get back to 2008 sales levels.

Felisa said the crisis had not hit Ferrari's customer base as hard as some car producers.

Positive effects in the Middle East, Far East and eastern Europe were balanced out by the losses we got in the United States and some parts of Europe, he added.

We have a good position in Japan and in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and we are weak only in the UK ... and in some regions of the U.S., he added.

(Writing by Jo Winterbottom)