End of Ferrari as we know it........?

Automobile magazine has reported that Ferrari may use a "shared" platform with Maserati and Alfa to reduce engineering and development costs. This really isn't a surprise considering all of the events of the recent past. The "resignation" of Enzo protege' Montezemolo, a portion of the company going public with it's stock and the talk of increasing unit production. It does appear that Ferrari is moving from being a specialty performance auto manufacturer to more of a mainstream auto company. The days of specifically engineered, highly specific design and unique character Ferrari's may soon be a thing of the past. Will the Motezemolo cars be held near and dear to the hearts of the Ferrari faithful one day as the end of an era?

 

Haven't they already been sharing a platform with Maserati?

 

Yes. I would hardly call it a resignation. I'd call it a forced retirement. Ferrari will still be special but it won't be as special.

 

True, and the beginning of what we already know it to be (e.g. Porsche).

 

What platform have they been sharing with Maserati?

 

I believe some use Ferrari engines.

 

When Automobile magazine was referring to shared platforms I think they were talking about interchangeable chassis and running gear with different body configurations.

 

I'd say it's the start, although it has been a mainstream automobile manufacturer even when Luca M. took over. The old-school way of building cars was too costly and too imperfect for the '90s and the NSX really put them in their place. It was world's away in comfort, performance, quality, price and service to what Ferrari had. Morgan can get away with this kind of manufacturing, but the owners EXPECT it and with such a simple design/construction, it's hard to "mess" things up. As well, Luca really pushed the marketing aspect to help boost income and that's certainly made a difference. For good and bad.

Sergio is a shrewd businessman. He has passion, but the numbers come first.

Going back to the topic of manufacturing, I know it's supposed to be on every Ferraristi's bucket list to do a factory tour, but I've lost interest in that. To me, the factory is what it was like, represented in books like those of Michael Dregni's "Inside Ferrari" and Karl Ludvigsen's "Ferrari The Factory". That's how I would have liked to have seen it as that was when Ferrari ran the place. Of that "old-school" craftsmanship...

Nowadays, you can do a tour on YouTube, based on the short videos produced by Discovery Channel's "How it's Made" series... Which show a completely different place and technology than to how the old man ran it (don't believe me? Watch how they build Audis, Porsches, even the BMW Z4 and see if you can spot the differences between them and Ferrari). Yawn...

 

This. The end of Ferrari as we all want to romanticize it was probably the Boxer/308 era, when those two cars were assembled on in factory with effectively no automation by modern standards.

You don't produce 17,000 360s with a high tech aluminum chassis by hammering them out over a wooden buck, and components like the folding roof of the California are IIRC sourced from the same supplier as Mercedes used (uses?) for the SLK/SL. And we can't expect handcrafted stability control systems. Totally different cars, totally different game.

 

Bullfighter is correct in that modern manufacturing techniques are now used by Ferrari making it possible to churn out thousands of cars. Even though volume has ramped up, all of today's Ferrari's are unique to Ferrari. The shared platform will mean that the chassis and drivetrain will be shared between Ferrari, Alfa and Maserati with the only difference being the sheetmetal and interior. Same as the difference between a Camaro and a Firebird - same car, different sheetmetal. This to me is a paradigm shift in what a Ferrari is and represents. They will no longer be unique.

 

Didn't "they" say the exact same thing when FIAT bought 50% of Ferrari in 1969?

Didn't "they" say the exact same thing when FIAT increased it shareholding to 90% in 1988 after Enzo Ferrari's death?

Didn't "they" say the exact same thing when Ferrari starting producing cars on a proper production line in the late 60's/early 70's?

Didn't "they" say the exact same thing when Ferrari announced that it was no longer going to produce cars with manual gearboxes?

Didn't "they" say the exact same thing when FIAT announced that they were selling some of their stake in Ferrari recently?


The fact of the matter is, Ferrari have to move with the times, it has to adapt and evolve in order to survive!

It's incredible to see how quick people are to write off Ferrari every time something major happens in their history, and claim: "That's it - It's the end of Ferrari!"

The funny thing is, every time something major happens to Ferrari, the reality is that the doom-mongers are proved wrong, and Ferrari are proved right by becoming even more successful!

Yes this might be "the end of Ferrari as we know it!", but that doesn't automatically make it a bad thing (not everything from Ferrari's past was "great!", and I suspect that yet again, Ferrari will continue to exist, and it will continue to be a successful company!

 

This is the same attitude that caused people to decry the end of Porsche when they went water cooled. Then built an SUV and 4 door sedan. It's just changing. They probably said this about Ford when he started painting cars in colors other than black.

 

LOL

 

Spot on, as a magazine hoarder I've got a pile of mid 70's Mags where people say "V8's- it's all over"

 

4RePhil, how many modern Ferraris do you own or want to own. If I were buying a new high-end modern sports car, not sure I would be choosing Ferrari. Aside from the name, where is the difference from so many other great cars.

Always loved Ferraris from my very first days seeing them when I was an 8 year old boy, in 1966, who loved cars, and was going to the New York Automobile show, in NYC, at the NY Coliseum. I still like to see the new models, but I don't think they are special anymore as there are just so many around and are mass produced. Hence I own older cars from the years Ferrari was still Ferrari IMO.

You can still buy a Bugatti, but it's not a "Bugatti". This is what I feel about Ferrari.

 

Even at 17,000, those are relatively low production numbers over a 6 year period of manufacturing that model. That's less than 3000 cars a year. Though I don't know the number of cars that actually made it to the US.
To me, that is still a pretty rare car. A typical one year run of mainstream manufacturer's car would produce more than that in one year.

"Leading the production was the 2015 Corvette Stingray Coupe. GM built 20,757 Stingray Coupes which accounted for 60.6% of Corvette production. The Z06 Coupe was second with 6,980 built for a 20.4% share. The Corvette Stingray Convertible’s production was 4,830 for 14.1% and finally the Corvette Z06 Convertible total was 1,673 for 4.9%." - from corvette blogger. There were over 33,000 made.

I think until we see a day were Ferrari is making 20,000 + cars a year, they we still remain special. Hell, I even get excited seeing a California on the road. lol

Would you consider Gallardo's special? Lamborghini made over 14,022 cars in it's production run. They are said to be making approximately 3000 Huracan's a year. Will the make that car any less special? I can understand saying a car is less special due to seeing it every day.
IE: Aston martin DB9's can be seen a few times a day here in Burbank. Almost as much as Tesla's and Prius'. What would make a not special car. Paying 140+ for a P85D when you can pick up a 2013's for under 50 grand...

I think Ferrari will always be special due their Legacy and history. Unfortunately traditions change as does technology. What was applicable in the 50's for production protocols can't compete with what's available now for producing high tech cars. Carbon Fiber is revolutionizing manufacturing in the auto industry.

 

Yep
+100
And Ferrari as we know it endewith Luca somewhere around the 550/360
Nothing to do with modern times or construction which is good tech and everything g to do with inspiration and product execution.

As the comments by others comparing a future Ferrari to porche

Proche Ending with water cooling and SUVs. At this point they may sell more units but besides the gt3 and gt4 they are really a purveyor of gt cars and SUVs, the gt4 and gt3 are the last pieces of. Credibility the current "brand" rests on.
So yes porche as we know or knew it died with the 993 when most of their cars were still small lithe visceral sports cars that'd required some Comitment and skill to drive and enjoy.

By that measure Ferrari is already lost.

As to shared platforms at Ferrari, we saw that with the Cali which is a Ferrari in name only.
Yes the still bespoke platforms mean something, but the. An audi r8 makes a good lambo or is it the other way around, in any event the differences are bigger tha. Camaro firebird. I am thinking g. Adillac ats vs Camaro

 

I am more concerned that Ferrari is going to go because all performance cars are going to go. I don't know how long it will take, but there is a finite lifespan. The next generation of kids just don't care about cars. Their kids may not even own one - by then it may just be virtually hailing the next automated shuttle. Even if people are still allowed to own and pilot their own cars, the ONLY people buying them will be enthusiasts. Right now, enthusiasts do not represent enough of the sports car market to dictate things like production of manual transmissions. At that point, there will not be enough people interested in spending money on cars to keep a company like Ferrari afloat. The merchandising will not help, because no one will give a happy crap. And all of the people that spend money on the cars simply as status symbols, which I believe is the majority, they won't do it either.

I realize past experience like examples above suggests that things will not really change. But in the 70's, most kids LOVED cars. Now? Very few kids have any interest in them. That's new, and that's going to completely reshape the market in 10-15 years.

 

Ferrari: ending since 1947.

 

I agree with a lot that's been said, however, I still feel that people are missing my point. I don't think Ferrari will go away, but the uniqueness of it will go away. A common platform between 3 different makes of cars (Ferrari, Alfa, Maserati) will make them like most other auto manufacturers. Production methods have changed, production numbers have gone up, and ownership has changed, but there has ALWAYS been two constants since the 1940's. The company was led by a president with a PASSION for Ferrari, and the cars were unlike any other. These two factors have never changed and it now appears they have. Maybe we can rename the company Feralfarati.

 

I agree. The 308/328 & Boxer/Testarossa shift circa 1985 marked the change to "modern Ferrari" in my mind. The later mid 80's and onward cars, and certainly the 90's cars, just felt and looked different, too similar in my view to what other companies were putting out. People might think me nuts, but aesthetically I even find a huge difference between the 308 QV and the 328. The latter is too squared on the nose, too smoothed out, too tame and proper looking. It felt like they wee responding instead of leading. Everything that has followed from the factory since has had the same issue. Even the supercars.

 

and when they put turbos in the V8, it's really over.

 

So ever since the F40? : )

 

The end of Ferrari as we know it is when the end of Fossil fuels is upon us.
The capabilities of modern production Ferraris are already far above human capabilities..
I would not lose sleep over it..
Today a camry far outhandles a 308..
soon a nissan GTR will out run a Laferrari...

As Frank Sinatra once said..." Thats Life "


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIiUqfxFttM

 

Camry's can't out handle a GT4!!

All jokes aside, I love 8 Cyl fcars. They saved the company in the 80's, but when I heard the 488 was going to have a smaller V8 and was going to be turbo charged it just reminded me too much of the turbo-izing of F1 over the last few yrs...but guess what, the 488 a killer car and yes the guys behind the gate have to keep up with McLaren, the folks at Acura, etc. I was wrong, the 488 is special and fcar isn't going anywhere. The bottom 1/2 of the 360 engine was shared with Maser...and they want and need to sell more alfas, masers, fiats, anything. I'm not thrilled that Sergio wants to ramp up production but it probably won't get that crazy...any maybe that includes the new 'Dino'. They will protect the brand one way or another

All that said, I wouldn't mind having a spare 458 speciale to tuck away. Best looking since the 355 and the sound...maybe I'm still biased