Ferrari and its 'identity crisis'

They need the Dino. Prices are just too high on the V8 and V12 sports cars -- and going up.

Oh, and Sergio is an idiot.

 

Disagree with price being too high. If the market shows a long wait list for new cars and slightly used models command higher price than MSRP, price is not too high.

Outside of nepotism, becoming a head of a major international company does require some skill. How he compares to Luca is another matter.

 

That one I did not get.

The way I understand when a new V12 is announced, all the production is sold before the 1st car rolls off the line.

When a new V8 is announced, you need to have at least one in the garage (preferably more), good relationship with a Ferrari dealer, etc, in order to be able to get on the list. At the end, the forecasted production is sold years ahead of the planned delivery date.

So, expensive enough or not, all get sold.

What would be Ferrari's motivation to make them cheaper ??

 

I personally think the pitch as a "luxury goods maker" is just totally wrong. There is nothing wrong with sales but the entity has been portrayed incorrectly in my opinion.

The market seems to agree with my sentiment.

 

Ferrari Goes Into Reverse - Bloomberg

 

Just an opinion -
It seems luxury goods are stalling on many fronts. The world wide focus on disparity with income seems to have dampened demand for luxury goods. Marketing Ferrari as a luxury goods company is a rebranding of sorts. It will be interesting to watch.

 

Bring back Luca Di Montezemolo he is the only person that can run the show without ruining the brand and still make the company very profitable.

 

If you wouldn't buy a Hermes car or a Patek wine, why would you buy a Ferrari tie?

 

I don't think either party is interested in that. Do you?

 

Several people have quit FNA recently.

 

Absolutely brilliant.
D.

 

Weren't all the lame theme parks, trinkets, clothing and higher volume production under Luca's watch?

 

Luxury goods are stalling because how many of the same purses and shoes can you stuff into the closet? The economy is dead for the vast majority of the 'consumer' class. Only the rentiers are making out like bandits and they already have the best of everything.

 

Seems to me that Maranello has lost sight of the Old Man's vision-- instead of building fabulous cars that the cognoscenti fight to buy, they now want to build toys for "fabulous people" like the Beibers and Kartrashians of the world. It's no longer about the cars-- it's now *all* about the money, and the resulting brand dilution is making itself quite obvious.

 

Spot on.

What a BS article,

but let's hope that this kind of outside pressure doesn't influence Ferrari management now or in the future by selling it's identity and sqeezing out every penny just for the sake of "share holder value".

 

Umm...that's very much what the ROAD car division has always been? Just because you don't identify with or have a fondness for the current crop of 'celebrity' owners (God knows I don't) doesn't change the fact that's always been a staple of the road car...

 

I thought the 'Old Man' just wanted to race and always despised his customers?

 

When a car company can sell all its cars years in advance and still have a waiting list something is working! Especially when the price of the cars is in the stratosphere and unobtainable by most all consumers. There is no motivation to reduce the price, keeping the supply significant less than the demand maintains image and desire to own something special.

So extending the Ferrari brand to a bunch of trinkets which have nothing to do cars or racing which is how Ferrari created its image just cheapens the brand and ruins the mystique of the brand. It is then just about money and monetizing the image which in the long run will not be good for the Ferrari brand.

Just my opinion I could be wrong.

 

In the Bloomberg article the sentence that catches my eye is the "costly F-1 Team"... that is the thinking of Wall Street vs. the traditional Ferrari follower.

I don't think Ferrari will abandon F-1 anytime soon, BUT they will face ever greater pressure to justify its expenditures on F1 vs. the revenue generated.

as for Ferrari being a luxury goods maker.. that is crap to an extent. If they want to be Like hermes or Prada, Gucci etc.. then they need to stick to the basics... make goods that are used in their cars - cast watches, belt buckles and leather from the cars, office chairs and furniture, things like that. Carbon fiber stuff... that makes sense. they should also dip into the history of Mr. Ferrari - repro his glasses, ties, pens and produce a line of his favorite foods- Balsamic, wine, Zampone, tortelli etc... stuff from Modena and Maranello..perhaps under the "Ristorante Cavallino" brand...

 

Oooooh! The Ferrari Commode. Something Commodore would have used. Flushes faster than any other on the market. Designed by Pininfarina!

 

Wow! You just gave them millions of dollars of ideas. I hope they send you a consulting fee.

 

That's the great thing about Ferrari - you can give them all the advice in the world but they WILL NOT LISTEN... it has something to do with being Italian and Elite... the arrogance at the Factory is AMAZING.

 

Ferrari food? No tnx