Do you guys read EVO...........?

Funny stuff Dino. And congratulations. Scan the letter. Or at least share with us the pearls of wisdom that won you the LoM.

 

"Hey, I couldn't have said it better myself." Wait a minute, think I know this guy Yea, post it if you can.

 

Nice work!! Evo is IMO the best car mag by a mile, and the letter of the month is always excellent, so I'm sure yours was great too. Please scan or retype it if you don't mind, I'd like to read what you had to say.

 

Ouch! I understand what you're saying but I'd challenge you to name one highly recognizable brand that hasn't tried to do this in some way? Fact is, very few brands can get away with it, even though many have tried.

Even under this current Ferrari "marketing bonanza" there is no shortage of people willing to go to great lengths to be a part of it. The mystique continues with no apparent end in sight. Just wait till they go public

 

Yes, but wasn't the main reason that Enzo made road cars, to fund his racing habit? Also, when they brought the cars to the US they made sure that they got into the hands of the affluent to build desirability etc. The way I see it this was "F-marketing brilliance" in its infancy and what you see today is an extention of it. Granted today's branding does seem rather over the top. Anyway it's cool to see your letter in EVO!!!

 

Awsome that your letter was in EVO, I love that mag, the first one I got was the 288 GT0 V F40 V F50 V Enzo....been hooked since

 

I agree with you and Porter's column in Evo79 but I try to filter out all the cheap crap. For me it is about the cars, and I think today's offerings are as good as they have ever been. Everything else I just ignore.

 

FCA's Prancing Horse Magazine reports 200m euros (approx $225 m US) in sales from accessories, clothing and stuff like that versus 1300m (1.3B) euros in sales from cars and spare parts! Its not pocket change and presumably helps Ferrari develop new cars and technology.

I would expect very very high margins from the 200m in these types of sales compared to cars and parts so they probably contribute a lot higher % of the total profit than the 13% of sales would suggest.

 

When I can part with 10 bucks I get it, but otherwise I skip it. I think I might ask for a substriction to it for my birthday. But anyways it is the greatest car mag out there by a long shot. Except they favor Porsches in just about every road test they do.

 

A couple of the guys that write for Evo are FChatters - Simon355 runs the long-term Murcie and Godzilla is David Yu (not sure what he has now, but used to run a TDF 355 Spider).

Jamie

 

The 50s and 60s were a LONG time ago.
Norman Rockwell towns are now few are far between. Neighborhood doctors? Mom and pop stores? A lot has changed. I know it's easy to yearn for the past - I sure do - but those days are over.

I understand what you are saying, but it is unrealistic to expect that today. It wasn't long ago when you had small towns, you knew the name of your local grocer and the names of his kids, small stores, you left your house unlocked, it was safe for kids to walk to school by themselves...

Times are a changing. That's not Ferraris fault.

 

I mentioned in another thread I fear Ferrari as a brand image might hit oversaturation like Lacoste and Adidas did in the early-mid 80's - and then become uncool.

On the other hand, it's hard to leave $225mm sitting on the table when any MBA would tell you to milk the brand for everything it's worth.

 

ok i dont know what you guys are talking about, I never see Ferrari stuff other than on the internet. Its not in the shopping malls or other stores. I can understand the complaint in the increased production numbers, i dont necisslary agree with it but Ferrari is a company that wants to make money. Who can blame them.

 

I must differ with your letter.

Who cares if people are willing to buy a piece of Ferrari, any piece they can get? They are a competitive sports team, just like Manchester, the NY Yankees and the Oakland Raiders. It just happens that they also make a product that very, very few people can afford. I don't see any tarnishing of the brand from that perspective. The cars are just as rare, just as arousing and just as desired as they were forty years ago. The name still rings special to people across the globe. People are fans, and unlike the Raiders or the Yankees, you can't buy a part of those franchises the way you can buy a Ferrari.

If anything, the proliferation of affordable branding products makes the cars even more special, the way McDonalds makes Le Cirque so very special. They both sell food, but after that the similarities end.

Moreover, the owners of the cars are still the focus and in many ways the envy of everyone who can only afford a tee-shirt.

Besides, would you rather see Ferrari sell part of its soul to GM to make money? Or would you rather see a Ferrari SUV, or perhaps 50,000 Ferrari's produced every year?

It is a business, gentlemen, and LDM's improvements to Ferrari and Maserati were very costly. We love the new cars but perhaps we don't like what it took to make them. I, for one, have no problem with Ferrari laptops, tee shirts and even coffe mugs. Someone must pay. Better the fans pay in the millions than lose the exclusivity of the cars. You can't have it both ways, not these days.


Forza,



Cavallini

 

Ingenere, I agree with you, truly I do. It would be wonderful to see fewer Ferraris, or perhaps a less commodified and poseur-fied Ferrari brand, but it was in fact Enzo's desire for the rich and famous celebrities to drive them. He's as responsible as LDM, in a way, for what has happened. This emphasis began with him. He did not emphasize the enthusiasts, to my knowledge. Isn't that why we have Lambo? This status-symbol emphasis started with il Commendatore himself and it just grew, ballooned is perhaps a better word.

I have to disagree though, about the exclusivity and mystique. They still produce rare, limited edition models in proportionally the same numbers as they did in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. And aside from Monaco, Beverly Hills, South Beach, and evidently some areas of Chi-town, the mystique is alive as ever. That's why we have F-chat and that's why F-chat has grown so much. I don't see a Lotus chat anywhere, and they make superb cars (Please correct me if I'm wrong about Lotus Chat).

It would be interesting to see if the percentage of Ferraris relative to other cars on the road has risen in the last forty years.

As far as LDM's and Todt's bonuses are concerned, they're unbecoming, simply because the company's business is not finished. I think bonuses of this type could only be appropriate along with company-wide bonuses and more comprehensive successes, i.e. Maserati, Alfa and Fiat. With Fiat still under-fire and underfinanced I could never accept a bonus of that size. I would defer it until the entire ship is sailing smoothly.

But, of all the CEOs in the world only the gent at Nissan has transformed a company as thoroughly as LDM. By today's corporate scorecard he's worth even more than what he received.

Again, I agree with you but Enzo set this train in motion, for better or worse. By the mid-90s, the sports car scene was very, very different than it was even in the late 1980s. How would he have adjusted? To gauge by his other decisions on the road and the track, he may have insisted that nothing could touch a Ferrari just because it was a Ferrari, and that the driver should make all the difference, whether the machine could compete or not. With that philosophy, what would we have today? Lotus, maybe?

There is perhaps a less Times Squarish way for LDM et al to conduct business but the game, on the road and the track, is so, so different than it was when Enzo was alive. I can't say that I would do to many things differently- only the bonus.

But I always like a man who sticks by his story.


Forza,


Cavallini

 

Love reading the mag as it also covers a lot on ferrari in each issue.

 

CAR is abit of a better read.

 

Their writing with its witty allegories and metaphors is the most entertaining of any magazine. All others really just provide information, and lack obscure literary and historical references. It's like Dennis Miller hosting Monday Night Football referring to the Sword of Damocles.

Plus at 1,387 pages per issue, it takes a good while to get through. I usually buy one when I fly to kill a lot of time.

 

exactly

 

Interesting thread. I can see your point Ingenere but do not agree fully. I think as much as Ferrari may have moved into the realm of ridiculous commercialism purposefully, the opportunity is accelerated geometrically by the "world village" that we all live in and Fchat so clearly illustrates. What used to be, as you say, a more intimate situation, has now become in instantaneous world event. Its hard to fault any business for not taking full advantage and as Cavallini pointed out, the old man himself set the rudder years ago.
Personally, I am grateful there is a car that stirs so much driving pleasure and is produced in sufficient numbers so that I can afford one. For example, I would love a Zonda, but that may never come to pass. I can, however, afford a higher volume edition 360 and while it does not afford the exclusivity the Zonda would, its still an extremely engaging and wonderful car to own and everytime I step into the garage, it captures my attention completely. There is a current thread on 6speedonline in the TT section about how their cars can walk all over 360's. You know the drill and its true that the tt is faster than a 360. Yet I bet 95% of those guys would trade car keys with me in a heartbeat. Why? Because of the intagibles of sound and style that Ferrari, even as a modernized and very commercial business, brings so clearly to the table.
So yes, Ferrari has gone over the top commercially, but thankfully has not lost sight, imo, of the heritage. And though the numbers have increased, the driving experience has remained unique, and still very very special.