Sergio Marchionne details why a Ferrari vintage buyer has been ignored

Great post!

Matt

 

http://youtu.be/hVOEOEJAceI

At 19:00 Uncle sweater gets smacked by Nicola Materazzi.

 

Ferrari production;

1985 3,119

1993 2,325

1997 3,518

Ferrari is expecting to ship about 8,400 cars in 2017.


I miss Luca

 

Luca was doing near on 8k cars when he left. Luca did the schlockt merchandsie and stores. Luca set the company on the path its on now. Nothing to miss.


I am a glass half full person.
maybe sweater man in his quest for more sales will actualy being back some viceral to drive cars. maybe sweater man will make some great cars that you can actualy buy as opposed to the good ones being only collectables for the few. Sweater man wants to sell cars. They cant really seell a whole lot more of the current crop of Gt biased cars. Three paths, a new dino, soke real sprtscars and a suv, all of whic can be built of platforms and pieces already in production. I think he will do all of them, at least I hope so. Would gladly have a suv in the showroom if the prcess also begat soem great drivers cars.

 

I tend to agree with you. Luca was very "brand centric" (like adding the shields we love so much), doing deals with Lego and pens and hell --maybe even toothpaste, and also made the cars more GTs and less sports cars because he knew there were more people out there with a lot of money who wanted their cushy electric seats and fancy stereos.

But WE are the problem because WE keep buying them. And I guarantee if they build and SUV a lot of us -- or other first time buyers -- will buy them. Money makes the world go 'round...

 

I think so too, and I also think that as a F1 team it would be inevitable for Ferrari in the modern world to have its brand put on a lot of merchandise. It's how the sports world works. Not as much as eventually happened, but T-Shirts, Caps, Toys, Video-Games and a lot of other things are not necessarily brand de-valuers...

 

+1!

 

Yep!! Exactly! Can`t agree more!

If Ferrari would print their Logo on stones and sell it - there are enough idiots running around who would buy this nonsens....

Ciao!
Walter

 

Ferrari: Racing, beauty, rarity

The stunning beauty has been in short supply for a long time. There's some nice stuff-the 550 is beautiful and elegant, but still not a stunner...the FF, horrible, even the California...meh, the 599? F-50? Even the Enzo, was interesting, but not a stunner...I remember when I first saw one...I wanted to love it's looks, but they were just OK. The car as whole was something special. Too many near misses. Remember a line up with the 288 GTO, 3X8's, TR?

 

Going back to the late 1950's up to the early 1970's Ferrari was not a trend setter in technology on road cars. Look at how long they used the basic V12 design almost untouched in road cars from before 1957 until after 1965. Also he was very slow to use disc brakes and kept solid rear axles on his cars long after many had gone to independent rear suspensions.
His first Ferrari production road car with a rear engine was the 365BB if you count the Dino road cars as more of a FIAT project. The old man was not a easy man to be convinced new technology was better. Just look at all the test designs they did on drum brakes for the race cars.

He let the body design houses go wild but in a conservative classic kind of way. Only the racing team was cutting edge and even the SEFAC cars were not leaders in design. That's why we love them, form over function. In late 1970 and 1971 that all changed when SEFAC came out with the 312PB's and Can Am 712 and later when they redesigned the 312 F1 cars in 1973.

And the Enzo road car is all function, that's why it's so ugly

 

agree as to a few of your points, disagree as to others, but you have one fact wrong: Ferrari produced the 550/575 Maranellos from 1999-2006. Below is the Maranello's frame. P.S. these cars are the spiritual successors to the Daytona.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

+1 as to all !

 

Marchionne talk out both sides of his mouth most of the time so I don't believe much of what he says (or what's reported). He wants to go back to basics and court the vintage crowd yet he boasts of all the advanced hybrid for every new Ferrari and his in-house designers push aero and general gaudiness. He's all about increasing production and higher prices and more exclusivity and customization. There's nothing vintage going on here.

I love certain vintage cars but any new Ferrari must be a very powerful machine and not just fun to drive. That and Corvettes are cheap and ugly with emphasis on cheap..... and ugly!!

 

But some how they're sold out for years to come and the press raves about their cars

 

Theyre not really sold out for years to come. A first year new model has long wait/premiuns for maybe 24 months. After that you can order and get delivery in 6 months or less at list, which is about how long it takes ferrari to program the production, produce thge car and ship it.

the factory has a capacity of 10k units. that they make 8k units tells you all you need to know about their keeping tension in the market/brand management. If they could sell 9 or 10k units with the same wait, ie margin on extras they would. They are balancing priduction to demmand, workign on keeping tension in the market, but hopefully not too big a tension. They have overdone themselvs with dealer games, gt cars only etc and alienated many who could have been clints, hence the entry and sucess of Mclaren into what was ferraris domain, not to mention the rise of lambo, proche Gt3.

The peess loves ferraris, its great marketign too. Any press that criticises ferrari in any way does not get a ferrari to test again, just ask Chris harris. In fact it woudl be a pretty horrid sprtscar from any manufactuerer to get slated by the fawning press. However the performance Press loves Gt3's more.

None of which is tosay ferraris are bad cars, far from it. they just dont live up to all the hype, some could be a lot betetr if ferrari cared, and the sell all they can make is pure myth, driven by clever marketing.

 

Here is what ferrari sportscars(as opposed to the Gt line) used to be about. This is the magic of the drive they need to try recapture. Its the whole immersive experience, not ease of use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHgD0wJGcR0

No tires screeching, car at 8/10ths water flowign over rocks, the art of drivign joy.

 

Chris Harris is not black listed by Ferrari anymore and it's been a while...

 

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. See photos below - my 550 next to an F12. Beauty and the beast.



And if you are still unconvinced, here is my Dino with its great great grandson.



It's high time Ferrari made a beautiful car again. And a smaller, simpler one

 

While I love the 308 and 355 styling as some of the most beautiful modern Ferrari's. I think the 458 is beautiful in it's own right. Add in the modern amenities, horsepower, reliability and the 458 is one of the best Ferrari's ever.

It seems like some of you want Ferrari to remain stuck in the 60's and 70's. If that was the case there would be no Ferrari today. Face it people hate change but the fact is you change or you die. (In regards to car companies)

 

F40
Amazing story; well worth a look!!!!!

 

After the last rumors about making a Ferrari SUV (which he always managed to ward off in the past) I have decided to create a thread in this community about how Ferrari fans could stop him. Shortly I will post it. Enough is enough.

 

I have decided to create a thread in this community about how Ferrari fans could stop him. Shortly I will post it. Enough is enough.

 

Sadly this new format doesn't allow me to see the photos you posted.
Pix do not open up.

Marcel M.A.S.S.I.N.I.

 

That's a shame. I wonder why?

 

I love so much about the 458, styling for sure one of the all time classics, the mtor the last and arguably in a long line of fast reving v8s. But then you drive one, and it feels so pedestrian at any road attainable speeds, might as well be a korean sedan, exhaust flaps and utra quick ratio ps are not asunstitute for real drivign dynamics or latin drama, they are gimicks. Above 9/10ths I am sure its great fun, below that, might as well be typing a keyboard. There are very few places with roads left on the planet where you can drive a 458 above 9/10ths, so thats moot. One can go to the track, where a 458 is in the hunt but really surpassed by other machines. Seems to me between depreciation freakouts, runnign costs etc, there are so many ebtetr cars for the track, which is I guess why we dont see ferraris there.

To me the 458 is like the ultimate woman you lust after only to find she is a big dissapointment in bed.