The end of Ferrari, as we know it

I’ll play, so both of us assume the other is using feelings over objective fact. Fair?

I see a post talking about Saturn and the Moon of IO as refuting the point made.

never mind the absurdity of that very exposition, i digress,I simply have one question.

what’s caused the Ocean ph level to change 30% in the last few years?

It’s not a trick question.

I mean a remember a time when everybody agreed there was a hole in the ozone and what caused it. I know todays world is much more bifurcated on nearly everything.

 

Kareem, appreciate your voice of rationality.

 

Ferrari will not survive full electrification.
It will be fun for geeks to buy the first full electric...
But it will quickly tire them of putting 500 k and hearing each outing that it's sh...

 

I'd never buy an electric car.

 

*Performance*
Agreed 100% that expensive watches are jewelry. The cheap Casio that was scorned here can do the ultimate job (telling time) much better than many of the watches that are an order of magnitude more in cost. We agree.

*Artisanry/Subjective Elements*
Agreed 100% that the reason luxury watches are more expensive (even though they can do a poorer job at telling time or durability/reliability) is because of the ancillary elements. Again we agree. However with one critical caveat.

Watch makers don't have 22 international races to see who can tell time the best

Nor are there monthly magazines doing comparisons on their timekeeping capabilities to a fraction of seconds.

Rethink your premise with that in mind.

*Commodification*
Trifecta? Can we agree on your third point about the commodification of artisanry and performance?

Absolutely, see the $600 Seagull Tourbillon

***

Okay, here is where you drop the ball. Put all of our agreements together.

1. Performance
2. Artisanry
3. Cost

I argue Ferrari should be at the top of all 3 categories.

Folks that eschew EV adoption are only advocating for 2nd and 3rd.

Do you think that's a winning formula? See Harley Davidson if so.

 

Yes, does not have the cache - but to who? Car snobs? Yeah - I agree. I just didn't think the stereotype would be so embraced here.

Most serious track rats I know have the utmost esteem for the "honda" Exige or "toyota" Evora and upcoming Emira.

I mean unless you think Chris Harris is a posuer.

 

Good thing Ferrari said they will continue to make ICE for the foreseeable future.

 

I'm a sort of live and let live person. I mean anytime I go to cars and coffee, there are muscle cars, ricercars, low riders, classic, heck, even sometimes early motorized carriages - I would never call any of them sh...

I appreciate all cars.

 

Ferrari has lacked the technical ability to compete with Mercedes and a soda company.

Should it mean they should leave F1?

What can I say? I love Ferrari; I don't want them to quit; I want them to try hard to be better.

 

I know, this Tesla thing? Fugazi. As myth and fake as other things asserted here earlier as well.

It's the downfall of Ferrari (and Lamborghini, and Aston Martin, and Porsche, and....)

 

I was using the internet way before there was mozilla. Looking at what a cess pool it has become, yep, I would like to go back to the time where the internet was line mapped.

 

Poetry, and brilliant post. Thank you for being a voice of reason. I completely agree with your sentiments. Funny, my experience is among my circle = *new* exotic owners I know seem to share our viewpoints. What I don't understand though is none of us is advocating for the seizure or banning of our vintage ICE Ferrari?

I guess that's the part that I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around since many in this thread appear to happily are doing the opposite.

Very illuminating to say the least.

 

Maybe you and I are watching 2 different F1's. Ferrari has been technically increasing their designs every year becoming more and more competitive, and now at the top of the F1 game.

 

The sun.

 

Nobody is saying you got to use the internet.

I simply mention it because you're saying you're all about real.

I'm saying that the train has left the station. You're preaching to the choir when it comes to the enjoyment of heel-toeing a Dino v8 with the clickity-clack of a gated - I GET IT! I love it too!

However, just because I love my vinyl records doesn't mean I'm going to deny Spotify is here and for most folks - it's better.

***

Mozilla? Hell - I still remember my US Robotics 2400 baud modem.

 

I have a saying. It's better, to be honest with disagreement than force consensus.

I take your answer in good faith.

To recap.

You think the 30% increase in acidity in Oceans is caused by the sun.

I'm happy to leave it at that and let others that may read this decide on their own.

Kind regards.

 

There needs to be a $3,000 a year EV charging fee for each charging plug at a home. There needs to be a fee of $0.05 per mile uploaded from the EV vehicle for a monthly bill. There needs to be electricity rates specifically for charging EV's of $2.00 per kwH. There needs to be a maximum set charging time of 1 hour per 24 hours designed into each charging station for the grid and so that we don't burn a lot of fossil fuel at the generation station.

I'm not saying I am advocating for the seizure or banning of EV's with these fees and requirements, buy all you want. I just don't understand the push back from all these EV people. In my circle of ICE exotic performance car owners, we just don't understand...

 

When I was in grad school at LSU, the maximum dial in rate to the department server was 1200 baud. I remember this because I had problems getting my super fast brand spanking new 48k modem to sync up. I called (wall mounted dial up phone) my department IT person and he said the maximum rate was 1200 baud. Uploading and downloading papers was awesome. People would croak today.

 

It is not on topic is what I was saying.

 

Netscape rocked - so did MySpace and nothing be command line ELM for badass internet usage

 

They'll try at their customers expense. Unproven tech that's not prime time will continue to be produced as long as people are lined up to buy it. I'll pick and choose what I'll buy from them just like any other mnfr. For now I'm staying away from their hybrids and highly unlikely I'd buy an EV from them. Certainly not their first version.

 

You will..

 

unfortunately this is probably a true statement.... We will all probably one day have to buy an electric car but its not cause I would want to but simply cause there will be little else available for daily round town transportation... I do know I would never by an electric Ferrari but I suspect they don't care...as someone else will...
In fact for the life of me I don't see how an electric car could ever become the dominate car ... TO me maybe a Hybrid could be ok but damn if I am willing to give in yet..
Porsche builds a fine electric cars and a bunch of Turbo cars but ... They also build a 9000 rpm NA manual transmission 911 in the GT3 or similarly in the cayman line the GT4 and they make a bunch of them and they are in demand so ...

 

Seems like the perfect model for Ferrari to follow! Particularly the NA manual transmission part.

 

Peter DeLorenzo weighs in on Ferrari's future:
FERRARI MOVES TO THE DARK SIDE.
Image Unavailable, Please Login MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2022 AT 11:01AM
By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. Yes, it was inevitable, I suppose. Ferrari, the most storied name in the automotive world and the maker of some of the most glorious high-performance machines ever created, is about to embark on a journey that will have hybrids and EVs making up 60 percent of its vehicle output by 2026.

I heartily disagree with this time frame, even though its new CEO, Benedetto Vigna, presented this strategy to investors and media types last week and insisted that it was so. That’s only four years from now, so as far as I’m concerned, it’s a giant “we’ll see” as we like to say around here. But the writing is definitely on the wall for the brand, as the halls of its headquarters in Maranello, which has been responsible for the creation of pure mechanical art for decades, will give way to such an inglorious endeavor as assembling battery modules.

The idea that Ferrari would give in to the prevailing winds is a reality that is being forced upon the legendary marque by burgeoning anti-ICE vehicle laws, which are spreading like wildfire in Europe. It could also be argued that Ferrari held on as long as possible before giving into the aforementioned inevitable, as other established brands have already embarked on their EV travels.

Porsche, for instance, has been peddling its Taycan since 2019, an overweight (5,200 lbs.) blunderbuss of a “sports car” with synthetic generated sound that does nothing for Porsche’s reputation from where I sit. In typical smug Porsche arrogance, the German manufacturer insists that it has it going on with the Taycan, and if you read between the countless media bites generated by Porsche PR minions and the dutiful fanboy reports in the automotive press, you would think that too. But make no mistake, the Taycan is a singularly unimpressive vehicle, one with about as much driving charm and appeal as a bloated, over-the-hill boxer with no fight left.

And now Ferrari is hell-bent on entering this world, because it is not only beholden to its shareholders, it finds itself in the throes of various European anti-car governments insisting that ICE vehicles be permanently banned from society. I can sympathize with Ferrari’s predicament, I really can. Because I would argue that no automobile manufacturer has more invested in the design, engineering and execution of automotive art than Ferrari. (Yes, Lamborghini has a tremendous history, too, but that’s for another column.) And even though Ferrari is succumbing to the mind-numbing hordes of Crossover/SUVs with its upcoming Purosange, in typical Ferrari fashion it will be powered by a classic V12, so it retains at least the essence of “Ferrari-ness.”

But 60 percent of the Ferrari product lineup eventually being hybrids or pure EVs? I can see the hybrid equation, because it makes eminent sense. But EVs? I can see where this is going already. Ferrari will continue its breathtaking design language – a feature that the Italian automaker has really stepped up of late - but its EVs will be devoid of the one critical feature that says Ferrari more than anything else: the sound. I don’t care how much the engineers at Ferrari work to create a synthetic sound signature worthy of the Ferrari name for its upcoming EVs – it will still be a synthetic sound signature. And to me, that spells trouble for Ferrari, as in, a giant pasta bowl of Not Good.

Ferrari is approaching a fork in the road, and while its overseers are confident that they can negotiate these fundamental changes while keeping its brand essence intact, I am not that optimistic. Ferrari has been a passionate endeavor since Day One. Enzo built and sold road machines to finance his racing, but that was a long, long time ago. The Italian auto manufacturer has managed to progress through the decades, and in terms of its most recent machines, we are witnessing a new heyday for Ferrari. Example? The new Ferrari 296GTB is one of the finest high-performance machines ever created, and it marks a glorious new chapter in the legend of Ferrari.

If Ferrari can maintain its essence building mandated synthetic sounding EVs to satisfy the demands of its various constituencies, while at the same time continuing to build fantastic ICE machines that make up 40 percent of its vehicle portfolio, it has a chance to survive with its legendary reputation intact. But that is a huge “if.”

I am not anti-EV by any stretch. In fact, moderately priced EVs make sense for urban use. But some EV applications just do not make sense. And this future path for Ferrari gives me serious pause, to say the least.

The automobile obviously means more to me than it does to most. I grew up immersed in this business, and the passionate endeavor surrounding the creation of automotive art has never stopped being interesting for me. And it is very much art, by the way. Emotionally involving and undeniably compelling mechanical art that not only takes us where we want to go but moves us in ways that touches our souls deeply.

As I’ve often reminded readers in this column, I for one will never forget the essence of the machine, and what makes it a living, breathing mechanical conduit of our hopes and dreams.

And in spite of this journey to the Dark Side, I hope the overlords at Ferrari never forget that.

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.

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(Ferrari images)

The 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB.

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