Marchionne or Montezemolo?

Luca, hands down. As one long-time Ferrari SpA executive said to me a couple of years ago, "Marchione, his name is Italian, but he is NOT Italian. He has spent too much time with bankers in Switzerland to be Italian anymore."

 

SUV

 

Both have their flaws.

I think you cannot judge Sergio yet. Too early to tell if he destroyed the brand or just made more cars.

Luca pushed the brand more elite and luxurious and promoted branding gimmicks like shields. He made the cars softer and better for daily driving.

But he also pushed the limits in a positive way with the Enzo and other special editions.

Everything has a plus and minus. To me the lost opportunity is what they could have done with Maserati when they acquired it. Luca kinda screwed that one up. It could have been another Porsche now if they were more imaginative and bolder.

 

The Quattroporte V, 3200 and 4200 were full of character. I think the Maserati failure came after his time. The SUV is a joke.

 

di Montezemolo's Quattroporte just needed a good gearbox. Compared to the later Marchionne car its got soul. People were excited when it was launched. Who do you ever hear talk about the new one?

 

The F1 team is certainly doing better under Sergio. That's why he got my vote.

 

I think if one judges the F1 team from the time Montezemolo took over until the time he left, he was the BEST ever.

I like Luca. To me, only the founder is more important in the history of Ferrari than Luca Montezemolo. Simply observe where they were before he took over and what they accomplished with him at the helm.

Quite frankly, I think Marchionne treated Montezemolo poorly.

 

Thank you for the link to Vicky.

 

There really should be a "None of the Above" option.

 

There's no comparison. Luca ran it out of passion, Marchionne is a bean counter.

 

I kinda disagree.

Luca was a marketeer. Marchionne is a bean counter.

It may be true that marketeers have more passion than bean counters. But being passionate about marketing is not the same as being passionate about cars.

IMO, what they should have done is make Maserati into another Porsche and kept Ferrari more exclusive and closer to what it was in the 60's. It would have given the US dealers a wider range to sell that does not impact the Ferrari brand. Attack Porsche on every model using the Maserati name but keep Ferrari above.

When they converted a Maserati platform into the California, it was a step in the opposite direction to that. .

That was not "Sergio". That was Luca

Then Sergio turned Maserati into another Lexus. Sad.

 

Another Lexus in your dreams, when they reach that quality pigs will fly.

 

Can't say I disagree... but that's the market they are going after.

 

I can't believe this is even a discussion...Luca 100%

 

I can't remember, but if memory serves, he wasn't doing backflips over the acquisition. But I agree - Maserati is a little soft, that may have been the direction from up top.

Ferrari was in pretty rough shape by the time Luca returned. Under his leadership, they won the Constructors' Championship from 1999-2004, and the WDC from 2000-2005. Let's not forget 1975-1977, when he was in charge of the race team.

The 348 was ****. The 355 was awesome. The F50 and Enzo are iconic cars from his era.

Marchionne is a blowhard. I'm not sure if he's a good or bad businessman, but he speaks like the leaders in my industry (which is like a bean counter), which I hate. He doesn't ooze Ferrari - Montezemolo is practically Enzo Jr.

No contest.

 

Go back when they booted Luca and look at the Fchat posts.

Some didn't mind if the door hit him on the way out.

 

Tough question.

Luca di Montezemolo was a great President for Ferrari, did the job with style and passion, and transformed the marque into one of more reliable luxury performance. The 355 was an evolution of the 348, kind of a hybrid of two eras (good mix of both?), but the 360 onwards were really Montezemolo Era cars.

Having said that, I think Montezemolo was a poor ambassador for the history of the marque, as was evident with his disparaging comments about the 348 (the last Enzo Ferrari Era car, based on the development input) when trying to establish a case for his legacy as Enzo's successor. It was dubious criticism of the 348 in his earlier tenure and it was inarguably unnecessary during the launch of the 458.

That said, Sergio Marchionne is wholly uninspiring. Very dorky style and comes across more like an accountant than the President of a glamorous F1/supercar marque. Some of the expansion of the range also seems highly questionable and might dilute the power and mystique of the brand. I feel a greater affinity for current production McLarens than I do current production Ferraris, even though Ferrari is my favorite supercar marque overall, the 348 my favorite car ever, and I am a Tifoso. Emotionally, I feel like the brand is moving in the wrong direction under Marchionne and new Ferraris are less special than the cars made during the Montezemolo Era.

I voted for Luca di Montezemolo, despite his unkind comments about the 348.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Here's the deal

Blame Sergio if you want but he's just executing Luca's plan. The path Ferrari is on now is the path Luca put in place.

What has Sergio changed? Nothing but probably adding the SUV which Luca said he would never do. And I would argue that the current Portofino is a lot better looking than the original rather plain California.

But then Luca said he would never do a "special" version of the 458 either. Money talks.

So who is worse? The person who came up with the direction or the person who follows it?

 

Sergio was Luca's boss and Fired him - SM saved Chrysler when nobody else would take them. Now he'll take Ferrari to the next level - IMO

 

A leader leads. If they think that the current strategy is correct, then Marchionne is fine. While I would agree if Luca continued, it would look very similar, but it never came to fruition - he was out prior to it happening, so his legacy isn't as tarnished in my mind.

Actually, I'm fine where Ferrari is other than the SUV nonsense. I'm not fine with a GM type (Marchionne).

 

There is only one TRUE successor of Enzo Ferrari and his name is Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.

 

The 348 was not ****. The NSX was user friendly in a way that was new to the market. Plus di Montezemolo's comments about the 348 may have been politically motivated; Fioravanti was apparently in the running for the job. Which is something I would like to hear more about if anybody knows anything.

 

LDM without doubt.

 

Sorry but you are confusing things. Sergio is probably one of the best managers there is, I would risk and say he is probably one of the best automotive CEOs in history after turning around highly troubled FIAT and merging it with insolvent Chrysler. However, being a talented manager for a mass-market firm doesn't make him a good strategist for a high luxury brand. Sergio, being an accountant, have done wonders in the firms he have worked in and his ability to improve the financials is unquestionable. But cost-cutting, improving inventories efficiency, etc., are not problems for Ferrari. Ferrari is like Patek Phillipe, it should be exclusive for the very few and in this regard Luca is in a different league. In my opinion Luca's strategy of limiting supply was the right one for this kind of market. Luca transformed Ferrari from a passionate but amateurishly managed typical Italian exotic car manufacturer into a truly world avant-garde luxury brand. Let's face it, there was an incredible jump from the 348 to the 360 and so on in terms of quality and technology, and the brand itself became one of the most valuable in the world.

Future might prove I am wrong but strategy management books have cases of diluted brands when they bumped up production and thus lost desirability. On the other hand there are many successful cases of luxury brands whose strategy is to stay exclusive.... And expensive. Unless of course current Ferrari owners don't mind seen Ferrari starting to be as popular as a 6-cylinder VW Beetle, ops, I mean, Porsche