Ferrari produces around $4 billion dollars in sales revenue every year – $2bn of which comes from merchandise.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing will happen. If anything, Elkann is going to throw more money at his new best friend to keep him happy. Who else is he going to discuss Ferrari's fashion line and the absolute perfection of the upcoming Ferrari Ellectrica with?
I read Ferrari makes close to 50% profit per car; one of the highest in the car business. Aston Martin is doing 32% under Lawrence Stroll, and still loses money. By comparison, Porsche with high volume is doing on average only 18% profit per car.
That would leave $2bn for about 13,000 cars, so about $154K per car sold. I'd need to know where to buy a new Ferrari at that price (I'd be ready to add some money for the dealer...)
The article is older but ... "looking into the Ferrari business model car sales are now catching up with their merchandise sales. " https://www.acumenfinancial.co.uk/insights/daniel-explores-what-makes-ferrari-so-successful/
I do not know the sources of published articles, but here are numbers found in the 2024 annual report: Image Unavailable, Please Login
Some of the articles and videos claiming 2bn in merch are referencing https://beloved-brands.com/ferrari-brand/ which may be complete false. This one may be nonsense also, but it states: https://www.sportspro.com/insights/analysis/ferrari_the_magic_brand/ 'Overall, Ferrari estimates that the retail value of all Ferrari products excluding the actual cars – merchandise and licensed products – totals US$1.5 billion annually worldwide. “It has become a very big part of the business,” Ferrari says. “This part of the business is very international, very balanced between all the different countries. Our core business is of course cars but we are stretching the brand, but very carefully. We are faithful to the Ferrari name.” Some 45 per cent of retail sales occur in Europe; 14 per cent in the Middle East; 21 per cent in the Americas; and 22 per cent in the Asia-Pacific region.' According to this one merch went up 400% with LH signing. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/ferrari-merchandise-sales-soar-400-174816627.html
The thing is that the merchandise is typically not sold by Ferrari, so the total revenue for the merchandise is not part of Ferrari's revenue (and that's also why Ferrari could only estimate it). So when the total Ferrari revenue is 6.6Bn, and there is 2Bn (or whatever estimated) revenue in merchandise, it does not mean Ferrari gets 4.6 for cars and 2 for merchandise - the known numbers (which should be accurate) are as stated in the annual report, 5.7Bn for cars (and parts) and 670M for "sponsorship, commercial and brand". When Puma sells Ferrari branded shoes, Puma gets the revenue of the sales and pays licensing fees to Ferrari, and these licensing fees are the only revenue that's accounted for in Ferrari's numbers. This is however a part of the business that should be very profitable for Ferrari, since they do not support any production costs for it.
At the risk of me sounding like I’m moving the goal posts, Elkann’s role is to increase shareholder value, not necessarily to win races. Lewis is selling merch at a record rate… I do wish his performance would improve, sure. Tough to watch sometimes!
Exactly as I stated there is no priority issue ongoing at Ferrari its rather successful/profitable. All of the LH related press etc is keeping that glorious name in the press and the company growing. There is zero 'downside' to anything for Ferrari relative to LH.
I think fans have always gravitated towards Drivers. In the 50's it was Fangio, Moss, Hawthorne and Brabham. 60's Clark, Surtees, and Stewart. 70's Stewart, Fittipaldi, Lauda. etc... the Mid 80's was a heyday... Prost, Senna, Piquet, Mansell, Lauda, Berger etc... lots of guys for fans to follow. In my experience there were Ferrari followers and Lotus followers... but few others that followed the teams. If they made road cars, then they had followers. Today its about the same. if you are a Ferrari guy you follow the team and like the driver. I dont see anything any different other than popularity.
I give the Hamilton Ferrari relationship till maybe Singapore before the its goes fully south. Its already happening, once the Italian press start up... .that cork is out of the champagne and not going back in. Hamilton will experience a new level of unpopularity. ( That is IF it happens, he could still put it out, but it does not seem likely. ) Sadly he's staying in F1 too long. he's doing a Schumacher.
The hounds are out of their cages: smelling blood already https://www.gazzetta.it/motori/ferrari/21-04-2025/hamilton-in-crisi-con-la-ferrari-non-capisce-la-macchina-sviluppo-lento.shtml https://autogear.pt/en/ferrari-fiasco-hamiltons-struggle-reveals-leclercs-heroic-third-place-triumph/#google_vignette https://www.repubblica.it/sport/formulauno/2025/04/21/news/lewis_hamilton_ferrari_f1_oggi_dichiarazioni-424140714/
The prominent British teams…BRM, Lotus, Williams, etc…always seemed to have had strong followers. But drivers had their loyal fans too. I was one: P. Hill and Gurney. But it was nowhere near as skewed toward the driver as it is now, in my opinion. Proof that fan involvement is vastly stronger on the drivers’ side today than in the past: The very reason that Ferrari hired Hamilton. If a bunch of guys in a web forum knew that he was past his prime as a driver, then certainly the geniuses in the Maranello board room knew it. As opined here many times: they hired him as a promoter, not as someone who legitimately improved the team’s performance. Even the most devoted Hammyfans were opining about how his mere hiring had increased the company’s market capitalization.
All of that aside, I do believe he has a passion to win. It’s not as if he’s not giving it his all, it just may not be enough these days.
My reasoning may look far-fetched, but it seems to me like Ferrari is paying Mercedes back. Michael Schumacher, multi-WDC for Ferrari, was lured to Mercedes where he ended his career. Instead of becoming Maranello ambassador as expected, their star driver moved to a competitor. Years later, Ferrari attracted Hamilton to leave Mercedes to join the Scuderia. Ferrari robbed Mercedes of their most successful driver ever. Sweet revenge ?
I think that gives Ferrari way too much credit for strategic thinking. Yes, He's a big name, and Ferrari do want to make $$$ but they also do want to win... their way of winning is not as open and clear as a brit team. I think Ferrari leadership think that with the winningest driver they can win again... but clearly its not like that. they should have given Newey what he wants and set him up in the UK - that would have produced a winning car at least from 26 on. Instead they bowed to the Italian press / nationalistic pride that has usually hampered them. When Schumacher was winning it was a truly international team, that worked together. Nothing against Italians at all, but there just is not at this moment the best in car design, engines etc.. all home grown in Italy. - nor anywhere else for that matter. I predicted this would not go well - I hope I'm wrong, and the win in the sprit race was good... but its not enough. The vision of Hamilton being a Ferrari lifestyle brand ambassador while finishing 7th or 8th and being out qualified by Sainz in a Williams will not ultimately sell. perhaps to "new F1 / Ferrari customers" not really. most people know Ferrari way more than they know Hamilton. I know its popular to talk Hamilton down. I think he's a top 10 all time for sure, but no where near the best. just my opinion from 58 years of F-1
Not at all. Lewis can't drive ground-effect era cars, Russell schooled him properly, especially last year. Ferrari wanted Lewis so they could sell more merch, they knew good and well he wouldn't be faster than Charlie
I think that if Ferrari had spotted and recruited Kimi Antonelli, they would have been on to something. The young Italian promising talent would have drawn support to the Scuderia and become their new poster idol by now. He is pleasant, knows how to drive, and behaves himself sensibly, not being controversial in any way. He would have been a good support to Leclerc, and given a good image to the Scuderia. Instead, Toto Wolff got hold of him, and Elkann went for the fading star ...
