Ferrari chairman Luca Di Montezemolo to quit after 23 years

To me, Ferrari has never been the same since the death of Enzo Ferrari.
It's death took the soul away from his car company and the Scuderia.
Now Ferrari is just a corporation like any other, and the racing team one among others.
There is no mysticism attached to either of them.
In one sense, I think the car company has lost its way..

In the great Chrysler-FIAT conglomerate, I don't know how long Ferrari will survive.
I read that Ferrari-Maserati was the stumbling block in a proposed association between FIAT and VW. The Agnelli family wanted to keep Ferrari.
Bugatti, AUDI, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ferrari and Maserati under one roof?
That doesn't seem possible, does it?

 

Luca is staying as head of Ferrari, then I think you will see Mattiacci eventually take over.

 

While I don't disagree, if Ferrari continued to make cars like they did in 1985 there would be no more Ferrari today.

Luca realized that: Change or die. Did he change too much? Go too soft? Sell out to $$$$$? Maybe. But "the Enzo" showed I think that the Ferrari spirit could live without the man the car is named after. Collectors today agree. And that was Luca's idea.

Some would say Enzo Ferrari sold out with the Dino. Or that he stopped building "real Ferrari's" with the the 308 GTB. Ask people here if they agree. And if you can go back and look at some of cars from the "Enzo era" you'll find they are pretty awful. We all know which ones they are. They're the ones you can get pretty cheap on Ebay. People on Fchat are still living with some pretty poor engineering decisions made back then.

Luca saved a dying company that could have turned into another Lotus. He deserves that credit. In hindsight it looks like it must have been an easy job but to drag this company from practically the stone age to a modern, well respected hi-tech manufacturer was all Luca.

 

Luca di Montezemolo is an outstanding businessman, but I thought he was a terrible ambassador for the history of the marque. Disparaging old models to hype the release of new ones just seemed crass.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

... wasn't aware of him disparaging old models. Any quotes available?

 

The 348 (my favourite Ferrari) was the V8 model when he became CEO, and he rubbished it as the "worst Ferrari ever made" before the introduction of the update with the 355. Years later, he repeated the comment about the 348 at the launch of the 458 Italia.

When the 348 was in production, the company's finances were in bad shape even though it was fundamentally a good car. When LdM became CEO, I believe the 355 was already planned as an update, but he wanted it released sooner as part of his overall company revitalisation as he restructured the financial side of things. So he made the 348 a scapegoat for the company's woes. He also wanted to build a personal lore as the company's new visionary saviour, which is true to a certain extent, though he did not need to antagonise 348 fans in the process.

There's a massive (possibly closed now) thread on it in the 348/355 model section. There are also YouTube videos of his comments at the 458 Italia launch.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Well, there is a difference between a "good car" and a "cool car". Probably he is right about the fact that the quality of the models increased enormously, because it did. Whether you like the design, spirit and feeling of the car is another thing.

Personally I do, I find the 458 one of the most beautiful Ferrari's ever. I also like the old Ferrari's but I respect the fact that times are changing. In my opinion Luca has pushed the innovation in the road cars very well, better than the company did the years before.

 

Sure, I appreciate that refinement, comfort, and build quality have all improved under LdM's leadership. However, he didn't have to select a specific model to denounce as the worst model in the company's history. All he had to say was that Ferrari were attaining new levels of the aforementioned qualities. This is why he is an excellent businessman, saving the company's finances and continually improving the product, but a terrible ambassador for the history of the marque. A good ambassador would objectively acknowledge some of the relative weak points of a car without subjectively denouncing it as the worst in the company's history. It's not going to sell more 458s to lambaste the 348 25 years after it went out of production, but it sure is going to irritate 348 owners and enthusiasts.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Well, well, let´s not get so over dramatic. Honestly, I respect Luca´s job a lot, he´s one of the most important personalities in the story of Ferrari, but he didn´t start from zero. Ferrari was not at his peak when the clown hack lawyer arrived, but was one fo the top names in sports car industry and they had relatively competitive products. Of course, those were rough cars, but a Lamborghini, a Porsche 911 or a Lotus of the same era were too.

The 456, a car that helped a lot to define Luca´s era Ferrari, was already designed before he arrived. And IIRC, the man responsible for that car was Amedeo Felisa, who now is the big man behind Luca. Maybe he deserves a lot more credit than what he´s getting. Actually, I don´t know why his name is not mentioned as a possible successor.

 

The price difference between a 348 and 355 have reduced dramatically. While I've always loved the look of the 355, it comes with it's own gremlins.

I think you nailed it that LdM was trying to hype up "his" company by disparaging the last of the Enzo-era cars. To stigmatize a car that deserves far better than he gave was short-sighted...the Ferrari marque should embrace it's history.

As far as which cars were "lemons", so to speak, I think you (not you, but looking at a previous post) must always consider depreciation in the formula. If a modern Ferrari cost $280k originally and now sells at $80k....

 

An unfortunate characterization to be sure but I imagine that it was made by Luca to put an exclamation point on the new direction that he intended for Ferrari.
If it served to keep the model at a lower price in the resale market it wasn't all bad.

 

Omnicorse.it reporting fairly authoritatively that Luca is staying at Ferrari. The rumors stem from the deal he was instrumental in brokering between Alitalia and Etihad and the desire of the Etihad owners to have Luca involved in the new Alihad, which probably explains him not continuing his role at Fiat so he has space to do the non operational Alithad thing.

 

There is that!

All the best,
Andrew.

 

100% agree. And my opinion is that this direction worked really well, although some people are going to disagree.

 

Just Andrew.

 

Well, if you look at it in stark reality, Enzo Ferrari stopped making "his" road cars around 1968-1970. when Fiat came in and really took over production of road cars. He had some executive authority - kind of like the Queen of England can technically do what she wants - with road cars, but he really did not care. He did toward the end of his life - 1981- 88 start to collect older cars - or have the factory remake a couple - 815 and couple others - but he did not really care. The
F-40 was "his idea" in terms that he wanted a Ferrari with the most power available - his mind was always on powerful engines. He hated the BMW/ TAG Porsche F-1 engines and wanted more HP than them to the detriment of Chassis and electronics technology.

Having been super privliged to have driven several - significant - Enzo era Ferrari's - 250's 330's Daytona's ... they are ummm... different. the sound is amazing but the ride and handling not exactly awe inspiring... but the beauty and craftsmanship is without peer. I say that in an artistic sense... the technology and how they were put together is terrible.



The 308 / 328 / Mondial/ TR/ 400-412 era cars were the last of the breed in terms of traditional Modenese craftmanship - before Fiat and high technology really came in. The 348 was the bridge to the Montezemolo era ... and if you think of it, Monetezemolo was right to move the marque on from its laurels... i mean in 1986 - my parents stationwagon had AC that could freeze you out.. and cost like $15K why couldnt a 328 that cost $70k do the same? and have superior performance? ... did not make sense. that is the stuff that Montezemolo gets gredit for ... making a car you can drive all the time in almost all conditions... to me that is his legacy and 6 WDC's in F-1.


and selling out to branding and mugs, t shirts etc.... he has devalued the marque and its history ... that is the down side.

 

I'm with NeuroBeaker in this debate. Praise the direction of the new model w/o torpedoing the previous one.

 

+1,000

 

His approach worked. Perhaps a kindler, gentler one would have as well. Perhaps not.

 

Interesting insights into Ferrari here-- Ferrari suffers from serious errors of vision, says former technical director Aldo Costa | Ferrari | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1

 

The buck stops at his desk.

 

Does not sound like much of anything ... lots of implied stuff with no detail?

Montezemolo is far from perfect but overall he has been good for Ferrari ... if not him who else?

 

Let's put it this way; I LOVE the F40, but the badly-named LaFerrari is on a different planet in every way imaginable. That not bad, that's just progress. Enzo was all about powerful engines with designs that sparked emotional response. Luca is about cutting-edge technology, form-follows-function design and expanding the brand while keeping Ferrari "special". He's evolved the company for certain, but I think that accomplishment stands on it's own merits. Putting down designs from the Enzo era seems to me a veiled swipe at his leadership and philosophies.

Of course, that may have been LdM's intent. He had been around long enough to have formed a strong opinion....

 

Guys it's me replacing him. Calm down ok? I got this? You should wait around exciting announcement, we are about to release out new v6t sedan 350hp. called the ferrari maria.