Fiat to Spin off Ferrari

Ferrari either rises or falls as a standalone business, whether owned by FCA or not. You can subsidize it for only so long. If Ferrari is healthy, it should be able to remain healthy as a standalone company.

I wouldn't discount the possibility that someone (Middle Eastern?) steps up to buy the company before the 10% is floated, but I guess it would have to be a pretty good price to get Elkann etc. to sell. You could also see someone wealthy taking a less-than-100% but controlling position and leaving the family investors in.

The suggestion that the company would be listed in New York is especially intriguing. Will be great to see a Ferrari 10-K and the detail of what is going on, especially more info on the finances of the Formula 1 piece.

Thus, I can see the separation of Ferrari as a standalone public company as potentially having some significant ramifications for Formula 1.

 

The Ferrari deal is all about getting the funds to do this sort of thing.

 

You need to check your facts.
2015 E400 Sedan $62,350 MSRP* base
2015 Ghibli $66,900 MSRP base.

2015 S550 Sedan $94,400 MSRP base add $3,000 for 4matic.
2015 Quattroportte S Q4 $102,500 base

Maserati's goal is to sell approximate mix of:
20,000 Ghiblis per year world wide
20,000 Levante SUVs per year world wide
15,000 Quattroportes per year world wide
20,000 combined new GrandTurismo and Alfieri

That is 75,000 cars per year world wide.
There are current lease programs that start at $599 per month for a Ghibli.

BTW Ferrari's profitability is dependent on Maserati for the scale it receives on shared mechanical components.

 

These are all great points of the technical aspects of the deal, but as a side note, any word on the trading symbol? If its listed on the nasdaq, perhaps ENZO, SCUD, DINO or FRRY. If it gets listed on the nyse, it seems only less interesting possibilities so help with some interesting combinations.

 

NYSE: GTO

 

One of my pet peeves. So many Americans will think it's a Pontiac.

Forza Ferrari.

 

Maserati posts record profit ? Car Reviews, News & Advice - carsales.com.au
Pete

 

Facts, facts, it's facts he's missing

 

Who gets 18 mpg!

 

A few thoughts.

If we were posting on this board when Fiat acquired Ferrari we would all be declaring the end of the world. So in a sense we should all be happy that Ferrari will finally be independent again.

As I understand it they are only floating 10% of the company. And it is going to the public (spread out among many) so unless there is a big disgagreement among the 90% shareholders where that 10% could tilt a vote one way or another it's really not going to have any influence on the direction of the company.

Once the company is publicly listed it makes it easier to raise capital by issuing more shares, dilutive as it may be.

I once read somewhere, and don't know if it's true, that Ferrari made more money on the licensing and merchandising than the cars. Can anyone confirm or dispute?

Finally and personally I just hope they NEVER offer an SUV or a 4 door car. I have a t-shirt I will try to post later that has a picture of their cars and says, "We will never build and SUV." Leave that to Brand X please.

Peace and Love,

Sixcarbs

 

Both the Agnelli holding company and Piero Ferrari own 35ish % of the company, and speculation is that with the additional 50% voting rights, they will control 51% of the shares voting rights, which means, no one can do anything unless both the families agree. I don't expect alot to change except we can now own a stock certificate.

 

Lets see how this plays out over time.

Maserati should be posting higher sales- they have badly under performed for years. The only reason they posted higher profits this quarter was because of Luca's pay package.

The new cars are just not that well put together and do not represent that great a value proposition vs the competition. The market place will sort this out over the next few years. There are some who would like to try something different. They are trying, but lets see how often things get repeated. I suspect they will have a very difficult time attaining the sales goals they want with the product level and quality they have.

 

Possibly true, and for that reason those who do not put much faith in Piero's participation in day to day affairs should read the recent interview conducted by Mark Hughes in MotorSport Magazine, as many may be surprised at just how much influence he has had over the years....

 

I read that and was intrigued but I suspect that it needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

 

True, but I don't think the British press - Hughes in particular - would be that inclined to suck up for Ferrari. Which is why I, like you, was intrigued.

 

I respect Motorsport too much to think that they'd do a puff piece but they didn't really engage him on many of his comments.

 

Marchionne excised stock options yesterday and now owns 1% of the combined FCA company. He is the 5th largest stockholder and together with the Agnelli / Ferrari families, control well over 50% of the firm. I don't expect them to disrupt what Ferrari has done well. Let's hope the direction can make the firm more successful.

 

Here's a horrifying possibility.

Krafcik says VW merging with Fiat Chrysler would be a 'brilliant' idea - Autoblog

 

Given how they've managed the Bugatti and Lamborghini brands I trust VW more than cash hungry crew running Fiat.

 

I agree this seems like an encouraging move.

But I see it differently: raise cash over the short term- puff up values now- leave the bill for a few years down the line for when SM and his friends have departed for greener pastures as heroes.... Sorry for the cynicism but that's just how I see it.

 

SM is planning his retirement, no sign of him being booted out. The FCA group is firing well now, Fiat is still slow in Europe (ageing models) but we can see some higher margin Alfas coming to market in the near term. And I expect them to be good as Alfa is headed by the same fellow running Maserati, and he's either German or Austrian.

 

FIAT/FSA is actually very vulnerable right now...

Their traditional strong point, south american market, is winding down and FIAT profits have fallen dramatically there. They are nowhere in europe, Škoda is selling almost the same number of cars as FIAT group(FIAT, Alfa, Maser, Ferrari) and that's just a single brand in the VW Group, Koreans have also overtaken them
They have very little presence on the chinese market.
They have considerable debt.
Their factories in Italy are underused and not very efficient.

The only healthy part of the company is the Chrysler side of the equation and the NA market. If that changes, FCA is, basically, finished. Alfa may or may not work, we'll see. They will have a lot of trouble selling upscale Alfas today, as the vast majority of premium priced cars like that today are being leased, and Alfas are not renown for residual values.

 

Keep or sell he'd excerise the options.

 

Alfa Romeo and Lancia were insanely awesome brands back in history. When they got under Fiat full control you can see by yourself what they are today. Maserati was in big mess too, they were saved in last decade since they gained stronger relationship with Ferrari.

I hope Sergio* knows what is he doing. I dont want to mention Ferrari together with Alfa Romeo and Lancia in few years as exaple of amazing brands that got ruined by corporation silly decisions.

*guy who will be presenting next Ferrari in his brown sweater.

 

FIAT is not to blame for Alfa Romeo's down fall. The company got into trouble after the Second World War and struggled for years with profitability, although this might have been due to its parent company, Finmeccanica ... an Italian government company.
Pete