Ferrari Future Roadmap - Unveiling 5 Year Plan In Early 2018

All interesting thoughts but...

Luxury and amusement parks and TV don't typically go hand in hand.

And Ferrari doesn't have the right type of brain trust to create or manage a fashion brand nor an e-commerce site.

Ferrari should focus on what they do well, sports cars and related activities.

-F

 

Very true but I fear that page might be torn out of the book to an extent. A manufacturer cannot be all things to everyone and when they do some of the brand essence is lost, I really hope that this SUV doesn't do that. I agree the impact of that could be tempered by the revival of the Dino name but consider that bringing that name out may be a rather emotive decision. I am sure we would all love Ferrari to remain static but the truth is its never been that, the best car "the next" one pretty much sums that philosophy up.

 

Sorry I wasn't more clear in my earlier post.
Ferrari doesn't typically run these types of ventures, instead they do an IP licensing deal with a major company in each field.
So, Ferrari wouldn't be the one building amusement parks, or a new chain of hotels, or a TV channel, etc.
Some major player in each of those fields would negotiate a deal to use the brand name and pay an on-going royalty for it.

Similar to the Puma clothing deal, Ferrari isn't in the clothes business yet makes a lot of money off of it.

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Got ya. Ferrari could play with that a bit more and do something creative and special to drive the sales up. Here's an idea, maybe Ferrari could get into executive producing movies like Lego did. Ferrari has a lot of stories they could tell. Movies would help push all the licensed stuff.

But really, what Ferrari is is a car manufacturer. So to push the revenue curve up, Ferrari needs to sell more cars.

One way to do that is to make its version of the SUV; just follow the Porsche model, only Ferrari. Another way to do it is with a new Dino. And again, they could follow the Porsche model, only Ferrari.

That is, a car similar to the new 911 T; a basic 911 that takes some parts and ideas from the GT3. Only it would be Ferrari. But it would have to be legitimately smaller (starting with the wheels and go from there). And it would be a Ferrari because it would look like a Ferrari. (Exotic, racy looking, eye catching) and sound like a Ferrari, only smaller (V6?).

And place it below the California in the lineup!

-F

 

Ferrari profits are growing faster than planned.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/02/ferrari-on-course-for-1bn-annual-profit-as-supercar-demand-rises

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This is a really interesting thread to read, thank you everyone.

Marchionne is a smart businessman and I would bet on him succeeding. Maybe the plan is a combination of SUV, mass produced sports cars, and brand extensions. With long-term clouds over the future of cars, and the rise in experiential luxury, it would be surprising if they didn't go further into that realm, and become less long on the 'cars' side of the brand. Perhaps high performance cars of the kind that draw us together will become, in fifty years, like saddles are for Hermes; still made, essential for the brand storytelling, but not a significant source of profit.

John Elkann is a long thinker.

 

It seems pretty clear that in march 2018 we can expect the debut of the 488 VS in Geneva. But what will we see in september in Paris, any ideas?

 

Totally clear. However I would like to know what you guys think with current knowledge.

 

So basically there isn’t really something to expect for Paris next year. The only thing which comes to my mind is the rumoured closed version of the Portofino or something limited like the F60 America. Maybe there is also the chance they will just present the next generation platform for several flagship derivatives (which they have been developing in collaboration with Altair). They did something similar back in 2012 with the presentation of the LaFerrari`s tub.

 

Spot on

 

I hope they will bring the long discussed Dino in the near future.

JS

 

Yep,

We also know that the current range of cars has stagnant sales, theyre stuck at around 8k units and have been for some time. They cant increase those sales, well maybe for a launch year but beyond that not.

One solution is to cover more niches by offering more variants of the existing range as porche does with the 911. Currently what ferrari does is sell the basic car for 4 years till it stagnates, then induce people to buy one more kust to be on list for the special version one ie buy a 488 now so you might get a 488 Gto. the special version is runout model and does nto really increase overall sales anyway. The whole take it up the rectum to be on the list strategy has its adherants but arguably alienates enough other potential customers that they stay stuck at 8k units.

IMO the better plan is to offer variants of the 488 and other cars from year two of a launch. More spread and you cover niches better. Plus people are not alienated from the "brand" as now, Maybe then existign model lines sales grow 20%, anualy and youre near 10 units, while not losing customers and potential customers to otehr competitors like Mclaren.

One can also broaden the model range. Ie one can use parts from various existing models to make a new one. For example a v12 mid enginend car and a new Dino all off exisitng bits, while there is some overlap that gets more sales overall.

Then there is the SUV its a no brainer. the FF/lusso was not inexpensive to develop and sells poorly, a suv off that platform will raise sales significantly and probably carry massive margins, hell they shoudl probably also do a smaller suv off the portofino too.

Lambo is going to mint it by doing a suv of a vw atlas audi etc. Rolls is doing a SUV ans the bently one is out already. Without an SUV there is no way they acheive their goals.

By concurrently offering more variants of eixting models and by broadenign the model range using existing bits (thats what a lusso based suv is) they may well get to 20k units with a fraction of development cost that it took to devlop the current base 8k units (which are already profitable) so margins per unit rise significantly.

Then yes they can also do some more racing like GT3 Gt4 and as someone suggested paris dakar for the SUV(makes total sense), plus add in some schlock product brand expansion and a billion profit is quite possible, all without massive investment and all while we all get to buy some more appealing cars..

 

There are exceptions to CO2 emissions in Europe and Fuel Economy ratings for the U.S. market for Ferrari by not producing globally more than 10,000 units annually.

Hybrids would help of course but then all the models would have to have this powertrain architecture.

In the end if all the powertrains are hybrid maybe it will not matter anyway.

 

Ferrari is a car company like anyother. They will will be forced to comform, or they are out of the production car business. Its as simple as that.

Ferrari could build the Prius and people would buy it.

 

In addition to performance characteristics, Ferrari's need to be attractive and SUV's are generally not that attractive. And though the FF has great performance characteristics, it's not a very attractive car. And Ferrari has not sold many over the years. I'm betting an SUV would meet the same fate.

Now, what about a down market sports car? Could Ferrari sell more of them than it does FF's or an SUV?

-F

 

A Dino 296 with the 2.9L V6 that Alfa uses would help Ferrari's fleet MPG average, it wouldn't have to be a hybrid, and it wouldn't even need turbos. Just saying.

 

Oh and Ferrari will likely have an all electric model in the future.

-F

 

They've already admitted that they've started working in that direction, so I wouldn't be surprised if they've been researching and developing an electric for a long time.

Ferrari should do Formula E.

 

an all electric ferrari concept would be greatly appreciated by younger fans..

 

What does you make thinking so?

 

I think you mean, What makes you think so?

Your English is still better than my German.

I'm an old guy now, and I'd LOVE to see Ferrari's take on an EV. I think LaFerrari hybrid is awesome, so why not a full electric?

As I said above, I think Ferrari should be in Formula E.