The Ferrari ICE Age is Officially Over

We all saw it coming, but here it is:



Ferrari turns to tech industry for its electric era leader
Giulio Piovaccari
Wed, June 9, 2021, 1:50 AM·3 min read

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Ferrari turns to tech industry for its electric era leader
Benedetto Vigna appointed as Ferrari's new CEO


By Giulio Piovaccari

MILAN (Reuters) - Ferrari has turned to technology industry veteran Benedetto Vigna to drive the luxury sports car maker known for its roaring, high-octane engines into a new era of silent, electric powertrains.

Vigna, 52, currently runs the biggest division of semiconductor maker STMicroelectronics (ST), where he has worked since 1995 and helped pioneer the sensors first used in iPhones to rotate the screen by turning the handset.

Vigna's appointment announced on Wednesday shows Ferrari's development strategy remains firmly anchored in manufacturing cutting-edge, high-end sports cars for an electric era, rather than repositioning itself as a pure luxury goods company.

It also highlights the challenges facing carmakers as they adapt to the green revolution forcing the industry to move away from combustion engines and embrace new technologies from batteries to connectivity to autonomous driving.

"A semis guy who did his thesis on quantum quarks and has hundreds of patents to his name ... running Ferrari? We live in extraordinary times," Morgan Stanley analysts said.

Over the years, Vigna's business division at ST has led the Franco-Italian company's moves into environmental, industrial and automotive sensors among other things.

"His unique knowledge gained over 26 years working at the heart of the semiconductor industry that is rapidly transforming the automotive sector, will accelerate Ferrari's ability to pioneer the application of next generation technologies," Ferrari said.

With cars starting at over 200,000 euros ($244,000), investors often look at Ferrari as more of a luxury firm than automotive specialist and there had been some speculation its next CEO might come from the world of consumer goods.

(Graphic: Ferrari multiples - https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/xegvbrqyavq/ferrari.png)

Vigna's appointment fills a six-month vacancy at the helm of after former Chief Executive Louis Camilleri retired nearly two and a half years into the job in December for personal reasons.

Chairman John Elkann, the scion of Agnelli family which controls Ferrari through its investment firm Exor, said Vigna's deep understanding of the technologies driving much of the change in the car industry would strengthen Ferrari.

Morgan Stanley analysts said the choice of Vigna showed Ferrari's board and management were aware of the "existential risks" facing the company and their commitment to transforming it into the "the electric/connected/software defined car".

ELECTRIC DEADLINE

During his temporary tenure at Ferrari, Elkann has accelerated its electric plans after a more cautious stance by Camilleri. Shortly before departing, Camilleri said he did not expect Ferrari to be 50% electric in his lifetime and it would never be fully electric.

Elkann said in April the new CEO would need the right technological capabilities, adding last month that sustainable mobility had become central.

Ferrari, which already sells hybrid vehicles, has promised to deliver its first electric car by 2025.

Pietro Solidoro, an analyst at Bestinver, said Vigna's appointment should reduce market concerns about Ferrari's future and its path towards electric vehicles.

By 1424 GMT Ferrari shares were down 2.2%, underperforming a 0.3% drop in the Italian blue-chip index.

Vigna, now president of ST's Analog, Micro-electromechanical Systems and Sensors group, will leave his job on Aug. 31, the chipmaker said, and start at Ferrari the next day.

Despite pushing back its 2022 financial targets by a year due to the pandemic, Ferrari booked a profit last year and has pressed ahead with rolling out new models.

Vigna faces several challenges on top of leading Ferrari into an age of electric mobility. He will have to revive its Formula One fortunes after its worst season in 40 years in 2020.

He will also have to manage the company's new brand extension strategy without undermining the exclusivity that has supported its premium pricing and profit.

($1 = 0.8201 euros)

(Additional reporting by Valentina Za and Sara Rossi in Milan; Editing by Louise Heavens and David Clarke)


Also:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ferrari-needs-digital-technology-too-11623257435?st=aw3d0awi8wji8xt&reflink=article_email_share

 

Puke

 

If he can improve the issues with the electronics and overall weak quality system, I see that as a good thing

 

Absolutely. I guess that’s the silver lining.

 

Sorry, no worries here.
They hired "the smartest guy in the room". Not a greasemonkey or billionaire playboy.
That is always the best thing to do; hire someone that is more knowledgeable than yourself.
In no way does this say that Ferrari will be fully electric soon.
A fully electric Ferrari is not up to Ferrari to decide, it's mostly new laws and general public that dictate.
They continue to make what consumers want to buy.
Be it sports cars, caps or shirts.

 

Maybe “the smartest tech guy in the room,” which reveals Ferrari’s hand going forward.

 

Ferrari has been a software-heavy company for a long time time. Every car since especially since the Enzo/F430 era got more and more complicated when it comes to electronics and driving modes. In that regard it is a clever step to bring someone with deep knowledge in the tech world at the top of the company. He is a very clever apparently nice guy. The most important thing to watch out for is if he has the necessary passion to run our beloved Ferrari.
I don't think that his nomination has anything to do with Ferrari going fully-electric. Two different stories.

 

He has an interesting background. He is not a user interface software level person (which I am happy about).

His noteworthy work has been in connecting the analog world into the electrical signals through MEMS. And the the other way around. Definitely done breakthrough work in MEMS, micro actuators, and sensors. We could see more and/or better integration of the analog work into the electrical into the cars. Potentially this could increase the quality of the feel of the car and avoid what is a concern of the current clinical nature of electric cars. So he is a hardware technology person as opposed to a software person. I think this is a much better move than having a user interface software person. And much better than a lux goods CEO.

He ran the group that encompassed these offering which includes the product set for applications for ICE as well as other scary words like ADAS, EV, etc. All areas that Ferrari has to be aware of. Take a look at page 12 to see the superficial ICE applications from STM:

https://www.st.com/content/ccc/resource/sales_and_marketing/promotional_material/brochure/group0/13/b0/34/fa/09/8b/4d/64/BRAUTOMOTIVE1018/files/ST12081_brautomotive1018_lr.pdf/jcr:content/translations/en.ST12081_brautomotive1018_lr.pdf

 

Wish car guy as CEO with tech guy as CTO.
Anyway, no matter what, SF90 is fantastic car at this point. Ferrari still makes great cars at the moment. Hope this lasts for long long time.


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Agreed!

 

I also found this:
48V Electric Supercharger - STMicroelectronics

"With the aim of reducing CO2 emissions, turbocharger systems are evolving from exhaust gas driven to electric driven forms for use in Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicles (MHEV). The superchargers improve the response of the engines at low revolutions and also enhance performance. An electric supercharger responds instantaneously, removes lag and improves the vehicle’s acceleration."

Electric Supercharger is definitely something interesting when looking into the future of Ferrari and something which has been discussed before in this forum.

 

Building on your good point to a possible exciting future,

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/07/20/ferrari-patents-fascinating-electric-turbocharger/

So room for a innovation. I would look at Formula 1 tech also as an indicator of what is to come.

 

I am just happy that they did not hire another Marlboro dud!
I am a bit surprised that Enrico Galleria was not promoted to CEO given his tenure, exposure and good work (at least what I can observe). I think a hardware guy in charge of the company is a good thing. I am not at all convinced that Ferrari's future (next 10 - 15 years) is no ICE but I am 100% convinced that it definitely will be way more digital. Continued superiority in the integration of electronics for a better driving experience (Dynamics+UI) will definitely position Ferrari very well for the mid to long term.
I am cautiously optimistic.

 

Ironic that Ferrari decided to go electric for both stock price increase (and of course regulations) and Goldman Sachs flipped it’s recommendation to sell RACE stock as they think the transition to electric will effect volume expectation (ie people won’t want them). What do you all think will be the long term effect?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-14/ferrari-s-electric-vehicle-push-to-weigh-on-shares-goldman-says?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_source=url_link&utm_medium=social&utm_content=business


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I think now isn't a bad time to sell the stock for sure but who knows about the future - I think ferrari has to basically kill the brand to succeed to the EV times and sell cars for much cheaper to many many more people

 

I'm holding my stock for now. Somehow, whichever path Ferrari takes, I feel they will succeed as a company. In the process, however, they just might largely ditch who brung them for a newfangled audience chasing "social/global responsibility" and embracing cachet and glamour - and, whose goals include being seen in a Ferrari rather than having properly driven the hell out of them. The prospect to which you allude does not seem far fetched.

 

I holding as well (though the value of my stock in RACE is laughable) as I think they will succeed simply by their marketing/perception by they general public even if the cars aren’t to purist/car enthusiast standards. They want to transcend the car business and become a luxury high tech brand it seems.


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Yeah, watch out Louis V, Gucci, Hermes, Channel, Cartier, et al. (it creeps me out to even type those brands)

 

Well that GS recommendation also feathered in time wise with the Tesla Plaid launch and it's performance spec debut. Which the media consumed and amplified quite loudly.

 

Except non of those claims have been independently verified except by Jay Leno, running a manufacturer car with unknown tires and God knows what else. Wallstreet enjoys the noise and the general public could care less about the validity of Musk’s claims, they enjoy the hype and feed on it.


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Agreed. Also, in the video Jay Leno also states that he is very pro-US in terms of product development. So, Jay is definitely biased towards Tesla. He has always been pro-US cars.

 

Which I totally understand, it’s a company that is innovating and creating exciting products but I don’t understand the need from Tesla and their cultists to bend the truth. The car is great for what it is and has it’s advantages/disadvantages in comparison to alternatives. If Tesla/Elon would simply state things as they are and not what they’d like them to be, I think much more people would be “pro-Tesla”. It’s simply frustrating when you see a company/CEO lying to people and they drink the cool-aid and repeat it.

-end rant.

Also isn’t awesome that we live in a time where you could buy a 4 door car that does the quarter in 9s, as relevant/irrelevant as it is.


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I would believe we will see a HP war in the electrics for a while.

The Model S plaid is bonkers but the Roadster is just around the corner and you know imbalanced Elon (performance specs over quality over luxury) will want that to leave the Models S plaid in the dust.

Lucid is coming to market with 1080 HP and that is before they unveil their tri-motor version.

What I want to see is Toyota putting 4 of the new Yamaha electric motors that are just under 500 HP each in a 2 door Lexus.

I think Ferrari will be fine on the vehicle side.

If the luxury goods play goes anywhere, LVMH will just take the whole thing over.

Then they can fully extract themselves from the Cry Slur based Stellantis beast.

 

Do not forget an essential element.
When you build a myth about the race, mechanics, and sound of the V 12s, your greatest asset - your story - may well become your greatest enemy when you have to throw it all in the trash to build good. electric.
A battery is not an engine.
Personally, I don't think the brand will not survive it, and that's fine!
In my opinion, their vocation is to become a service company, by producing parts for existing cars, amplifying the catering activity, as well as events for unregistered cars such as Challenge, FXX ...

 

Exactly…the shift to more events for petrol heads and VIP customers like Challenge, FXX and for sure more special cars for these events with ICE overload will become an even more interesting revenue stream where you can put the sticker prizes as high as you like and the people are cueing [emoji6]


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