Marchionne Comments - Production Numbers and "SUV"

Wow! That concept is better looking than Ferrari's existing offerings. Hope they pursue it, and with a stick.

 

Marchionne should name the SUV “New Dino” and make everybody happy!!!

 

Agree, it may not destroy the brand, but certainly cheapens it. I live in the USA, where 50% of personal vehicles are trucks, SUVs and mini-Vans. I discovered that I don't like "apartments on wheels" after I leased an ML Mercedes in the 1990s. Fiat already has SUVs and Maserati has the Levante, do we really need to destroy Ferrari's pure racing heritage and hypercars with SUVs?

If so, why not mini-vans, cross-overs, trucks? -Make the madness of brand destruction stop before it starts (guess I changed my mind while writing this). I, for one, will be a less loyal buyer if they go down this route. Since I spent over $700,000 on Ferrari's in the last 30 months, perhaps they should listen to people like us... I guess the alternative is a Lambo (if they stay pure)....

 

Porsche used to only make sports cars, and racing cars.

 

Lambo has the LM002 from the 90s and they are already building the Urus now.

 

It was just a tongue-in-cheek comment. Obviously you're not going to close it. I was just reading all the posts predicting such gloom and doom over a possible Ferrari SUV. It all just seems a tad overdone to me, that's all.

 

It seems to not detract from the brand image they should come up with a special line name for the larger luxury SUV's and cars they are doing. That's what they did with the cheaper Dino back in the 1960's and it worked pretty well until everything fell apart due to emissions and the gas crises of the 1970's. Maybe "by Ferrari" and sold at Ferrari dealers exclusively??

 

Yes, like Genesis.

 

They already have a station wagon.

 

How about some names for the Ferrari truck brand...

Rosso Grande
Ferlexus
Grande Camion
Idea Stupida di Ferrari

 

Another idea: How about showing Lamborghini how to make a better line of tractors!

 

I agree completely. My lust for Ferrari was downgraded to love in the late '90's when their design was created in the wind tunnel rather than the design studio at pinninfarina. It's been downhill since. No three-pedal cars. Production increased while F1 wins decreased. There isn't a Ferrari built today that I like more that the Testarossa of the 1980's.

Today's Ferrari may be the best ever to come from Maranello, but they don't excite me. With the in house design and shareholders to answer to, I believe the bean counter in charge will only do more harm to this legendary marquee. I hope I'm wrong.


Joe

 

Every day I look at Testarossa's and would like one. But, I'm fearful that it would bore me from a driving standpoint. A 512 TR would be much better. But, unless one can afford ($$$$ and space) a bunch of cars, it's hard to spend $200K on a rather old car instead of something more modern like a 458 or 599 HGTE (I want both BTW)

 

As a two time Porsche owner, I have some skin in the game. Porsche is all but dead to me. I took the Porsche driving experience in Atlanta a couple years ago. The track was fun but the car (Carrera 4 automatic) was not. I look back fondly when the company focused on producing sports cars and [albeit somewhat limited] racing. Today they are what Ferrari will eventually become.

Joe

 

More rose colored glasses. Cher had a 308, Elton John had a testarossa. Beiber can drive a stick, so no, it didn't require any more skill for the average person back then. It was more work, but don't confuse that with skill. It's not like it's remotely difficult to drive a stick, it takes all of half a day to teach someone. If they were still stick, people could learn in a day, but it'd be financial suicide for Ferrari not to offer f1 trans considering they invented it and every single other exotic offers it.

I grew up in the 80s and 90s and those were my formative Ferrari years, so I definitely have an affinity for the cars made then, but to think they were in better shape before LdM, or were better than now back then, is insane. They still made some world beaters, but they also made some real stinkers to make up the numbers, especially performance wise. 308i anyone? Original mondial? They were dog slow and less befitting of the Ferrari badge than anything made after '95, which even if you didn't agree with the styling were all world beaters in their class performance wise. Not something that could get beaten by a similar vintage pickup 0-60.

Back in the 80s, the base 911 was equal to or better than either the 308 or mondial, at least until the qv models where it became more of a toss up. Now a base 911 isn't in the same zip code as a portofino or 488. But yeah, the brand is being damaged because they no longer make more pedestrian base level cars yet have demand for 4x as many as they did back then? Remember when they had to invent special models just to move remaining stock instead of building them to increase profit? Yeah, that really made the brand more valuable.

They still make enthusiast cars, like the f12tdf, LaFerrari etc. Those aren't poser cars, they're insanely fast cars that only an expert could wring the most out of. Yeah, the average Joe can get in and drive one, but I'd wager they'd spend more time trying to figure out how to even start it and get it into gear than the average Joe in '84 sitting in a 288gto.

 

We are a diverse lot. For me, the most beautiful front V12 2+2 of all time is the 456M, the most beautiful V12 two-seater is the 550/575M, and the most beautiful mid V8 is... the 360! And I discovered Ferrari as a kid with the Daytona (Which the 456 and 550 are design-related to). For mid V8's, I go straight from the 308 to the 360. I don't care for any of the cars in between except the 355, which was a breath of fresh air after the 328 and 348, which I didn't like at. all.

 

Ferrari could be more like the old Alfa Romeo and build trucks and buses. They did call the smaller ones Mille, and most don't even know they made them outside of Italy. Porsche built tractors and so did Lamborghini.

I think it is important for Ferrari to not market them as a Ferrari sports SUV but instead as a separate line by Ferrari. A shooting brake would make more sense for the Ferrari car line.

If they wished they could also do trucks and buses at a later date, and maybe even ovens and aircraft engines just like Alfa Romeo did. It's all about making money marketing the name.

Does Ferrari really want to be Alfa Romeo in 50 years?..

 

I remember when this Lamborghini was new, there was a story about a guy who got it up to 125 MPH on a beach. Ferrari would probably pull some sort of stunt like that, judging by all of the snow footage of the FF. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I'm just not upset by the FUV. You know they're going to make it special and different.

 

Simple question:

If Enzo were alive today and running the company would he offer an SUV?

I think the answer is no.

 

Marchionne needs to get Maserati (and Alfa) as far away from Chrysler personnel as possible. Bring them in back into the fold with Ferrari.