Ferrari chairman Luca Di Montezemolo to quit after 23 years

The cars will continue to get better. They have to. The competition in the market will force that to happen.

I hope that they can get rid of the brand management and all the !@#$ games that go along with it and focus on building and delivering great cars. Seems like a much better idea for a car company to focus on than the current BS that goes on with FNA and the dealers.

They already went down market with the everything to everyone California.

 

Wow,
He is such an integral part of the company and it's heritage. He will definitely be missed.
The road ahead is going to be very interesting.

 

So the rumors were true! I just read yesterday how LDM said he had no plans to leave Ferrari, and would leave when HE determined the time was right.

To which Sergio Marchionne slammed him saying it was the wrong remark to make, and that they are all servants of the company and will stay as long as the company wants them to be there!

Edit: Maybe this thread needs to be merged...

 

I'm not sure how to take this. I liked the reforms that LdM brought about. I'm not change averse, but I'm struggling to accept the proposed directions brought by the "mother ship."

Makes me glad to have my car though! Before any talk of this "increased production" business was suggested.

 

Ferrari chairman Luca Di Montezemolo to quit after 23 years

Ferrari's Luca Di Montezemolo is to step down as long-time chairman of the Formula 1 team.
His departure follows a poor season on the track and disagreements with Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of parent company Fiat.
"This is the end of an era after almost 23 marvellous and unforgettable years," said Di Montezemolo, 67. "It has been a great privilege."
Marchionne will replace Di Montezemolo, who leaves the role on 13 October.
Ferrari have not won a drivers' or constructors' title since 2008 and are in the midst of their least competitive season for 20 years.
The team had their worst result of the year at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday when Fernando Alonso retired with a hybrid system failure and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen finished ninth.
It is in stark contrast to their dominance of F1 in the late 1990s and early 2000s when seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher led the team to six consecutive constructors' championships.

 

Neither am I. I just couldn't wrap my noodle around a Ferrari SUV. I'm having a hard time accepting a Maserati SUV, let alone a Ferrari. But Lambo paved the way years ago. Anyway, let's hope Sergio doesn't go down that path.

 

However we view LDM, I cannot understand forcing his hand to leave. He brought this marque to positive cash flow. Not only made the brand exclusive but brought reliability in as well. Using F1 losses seems to be a scapegoat. Granted we expect more from Ferrari and they haven't been on the podium since last year.....am I to believe that you are always to win a sporting event?! Ferrari has had longer dry spells. To me the most ironic is Fiat pointing the finger at its only profit center and criticizing. I have yet to see its house ever in order.

 

Sergio seems to be on a conquest for Fiat. Anything that's going to help him with that is on the table. We'll have to wait and see if there's a tipping point or a line that they cross with regard to profiting from mass marketing versus retaining the value of the brand exclusivity.

You guys have all seen that smile that people display when they see your car. That's because of the beauty and exclusivity. If that goes away, I think it takes a part of the brand (and the ownership experience) with it.

Personally, I believe this is something that LdM understood rather well, while at the same time catering to the changing desires of his (limited) customer base.

Edit: This F1 / SF scapegoating stuff is total B.S. to me - it doesn't relate to the core business of the Ferrari company - it's a cost center / R&D project!!! Besides, didn't they already deliver Stefano Domenicali's head for the F1 crap? Is the problem at SF a degradation of the Ferrari F1 program, or genuinely good engineering by superior competitors? To me, it's probably both!

 

Abysmal reporting, as always.

 

Love him or not, I feel that LDM was a sort of spiritual successor to Enzo as he was present for the early days and knew what Ferrari was and what it could be and should be. We can argue about his implementation of that vision, but I am afraid that all ties to the heritage have been severed by bringing in an outsider and uninitiated leader.

 

If you remember Ferrari in 1991 (hemorrhaging money, f1 team in the midst of a 21 year slump, cars not viewed in the best light), it did the opposite of degrade.

 

Did Sergio ever meet Enzo?

 

After returning from a factory tour recently I just don't see how production at that facility could handle producing the invisioned mass production forecasted here.

 

This topic is being discussed extensively here.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/f1/460091-major-ferrari-rumors.html

 

Uh oh, I hope this doesn't turn out like it seems it will! I'll be done with Ferrari...I thinks McLaren 's "stock" just went up. I WILL NOT buy another ferrari if they are mass produced. End of story.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

We already have a Ferrari hatchback. I think that (prancing) horse left the barn a few years back. And the 360 was mass produced -- nearly triple the output of the "common" 328 from Enzo's days.

I also think the scarcity concept is over and done. The used Ferrari market is awash in barely used 458s and Californias that are badly depreciating.

I would like to see Marchionne bring on a serious motorsports guy to head Ferrari over the longer term, though. It's not a given that Ferrari can reclaim its former dominance in F1, and without that its credibility is diminished.

 

I disagree. Ferrari makes a ton of money while producing only 6-7k cars a year. This business model could continue as long as Ferrari continues to make engaging and unique automobiles. I hope this does not turn into a pissing contest between SM and FP. I fear Ferrari could become just another auto manufacturer if it tries to increase production numbers and new model lines. Quality would suffer and resale values will plummet.

 

I really hope this doesn't take Ferrari where Weideking took Porsche.

 

Years ago Luca spent a lot of $ to raise productive capacity to 10K per shift but ran it at 7K.

Many Auto Makers run Double/Triple shifts.

Italian Labor rules make that tricky but FIAT group has a lot of unused capacity and under employed workers.

Alfa for example is built at Maserati.

There are a lot of very talented auto workers in Turin under employed.

Maserati is aiming for 70K units per year.

Ferrari's would still be plenty rare at 20/30K per year.

A new "Dino" would allow a whole new generation of non Billionaires to enter the Ferrari World.

Enough 458's and F12's to meet real demand.

No 3K cupholders.

No Ugly beyond belief FF's

There will never be an SUV.

Enough La's to meet demand instead of "friends" getting them to flip and kickback part of the profit to dealers?

What's not to like??

 

There are many things about Ferrari that could be improved and hopefully the new management will be able to fix these problems. In my opinion, the cars look aggressive, but have lost their classy elegance they once had. Ferrari allegedly cheats with press cars, lies about production numbers with limited edition models, fired Pininfarina, has a classiche department that apparently does some things they shouldn't, and fights cars like the P4/5 C which I find ridiculous. They make some awesome cars the things listed above have disappointed me.

 

well, beyond just the f1 team implications, i think it will be very interesting times for the road going ferrari cars, particularly around the topic of production #s:

"The Formula One spat masked deeper divides over the future of Ferrari’s role in the group. The Maranello-based company, which is 90 percent-owned by Fiat, is a key component of Marchionne’s plans to expand in luxury cars to better compete with Volkswagen AG, which owns Lamborghini among its stable of high-end nameplates.

Montezemolo, who took charge of Ferrari in 1991, wanted to maintain Ferrari’s autonomous status, including capping sales to about 7,000 cars a year to preserve the brand’s exclusive allure. That clashed with Marchionne’s goal of having Ferrari bolster a shift by the group into upscale cars as part of Fiat’s merger with U.S. unit Chrysler Group LLC.

Marchionne, who wants to develop new markets for Ferrari, said earlier this year that he could envision boosting annual sales to 10,000. That number is minuscule compared to the 4.4 million cars sold by Fiat Chrysler last year. But the profit margins are enormous: Ferrari accounted for 12 percent of Fiat’s operating profit. And with sticker prices ranging from about $200,000 to more than $400,000, Ferrari wants buyers to feel they are members of an exclusive club—owners of “a desirable object par excellence,” as di Montezemelo has put it. His fear is that Fiat Chrysler will over-expose the brand.

Even di Montezemelo agrees that Marchionne will get his way.

The longtime Ferrari chief has told friends, “It’s the end of an era,” according to Corriere della Serra, and that “Ferrari is now American.”

 

Sure I agree Fiat has capacity so I could believe Fiat builds with Dino or Ferrari badges. But, the Maranello plant as it is now no way to increase capacity much.

 

While visiting a huge new assembly plant was under construction across the street behind the hotel. Speculation then was the new F1 building but it looked too big for just that?

 

Change is good, but results don't always happen overnight.