This has been the most boring week for FChat

I need to show more stats of Lambos blowing away Fcars. Have a few magazines coming from Australia which should do the trick.

Oh, and Porsches too....

 

The "man" has clamped down on our fuse-lighting shenanigans, that's why.

Let's start some threads this week about how Montezemolo, once annointed by everyone as the savior, has turned out to be just another revenue hungry caretaker. Ferrari is now rightly accused by even the glorifying media as having no innovation, boring exterior designs, and multiple GT models instead of multiple hardcore enthusiast models, all in the name of sales volume.

Yes winning in F1 is expensive. But Ferrari has 50% of its F1 nut covered through advertising revenue alone, so it's not all loss. Plus even if that's the reason for the ramp up in production (which by the way is causing depreciation the likes of which has never before been seen by Ferrari owners) is winning in F1 worth the de-masculation of the production road cars?

I think not.

I think I will lecture the board this week with a seminar on "What's Wrong With Ferrari". My legions of loyal fans will love it.

 

Pete -- it's funny you mentioned this...I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing!

 

Montezemolo is an old-school European aristocrat with a secret desire to return Ferrari to days of yore when everyone who was ANYONE wanted to be seen in a front-engined V12 grand touring car. I, kicking myself as I say this, agree with Mako, but for different reasons. On the one hand Ferrari has achieved so much success commercially as a DIRECT RESULT of on-track success, and yet at the same time they want to take their race-winning technology (save the Enzo) and immasculate it to produce front-engined GT cars so blue-blood geezers can have their oxygen bottles in the back seat. Very disheartening indeed.

 

Would those be stats of repair expenses you are referring to Allan?

 

I just read an article in Automotive News (dealer industry mag) that Ferrari is expanding into some new markets in Asia and will ramp up production accordingly. So much for the old "we will never build more than 4,000 cars a year" mentality. Personally, I don't know whether this is good or bad for the marque. Just thought I'd mention it.

 

Ah, do these bottles come with a supply of scotch? I can't seem to find one in my car....

Dr "Blueblood" Tax

 

The problem with it is that expansion breeds the need for more practical models. It's inevitable, it doesn't matter if it's the Porsche Cayenne, or the 612, or the Maseratti Quattroporte, the search for volume sales always ends in more seats, more space, more trunk room, and more weight.

I look at Ferrari these days and wish that they were run as they were in years past: A racing company that produced a few select low volume high octane models for those crazy enough to drive them on the road. Beholden to no one.

That all changed when the NSX arrived, and Montezemolo took over, two events that shape Ferrari to this day. Montezemolo, and everyone else it seemed, realized the second they drove an NSX, that things had to change at Ferrari. They couldn't get away with cars that were assembled more slipshod than a Mexican VW Beetle. Substandard powerplants in the V8 models weren't going to slip under the radar any longer. The threat of the Japanese Pac Man engulfing the hollowed ground of sports cars in 1991 was a real fear.

Ferrari reacted by adding for the first time, creature comforts and driving assists, (even power steering, yikes) to the then-in-development F355.

The result was a great car, everything that a Ferrari should be, and enough to send the NSX back into the ocean of -90% sales volume from year one, much like Godzilla after a pasting by Mothra or the like.

But it didn't stop there. Montezemolo has since continued to add practicality to cars that are owned by people with two or even three other cars to daily drive and thus don't want or need more practicality from their F-car. More space, more seats, more size.

In order to appeal to as broad a segment of the population as possible, the call went out to Pininfarina for more conservative body shapes, fewer air intakes, fewer wings and spoilers, higher ride heights, taller rooflines. The cars had to be easier to get into and out of.

This is the ailment that plagues Ferrari right now. Unlike Audi, who can afford to have a boutique "exotic division" in the form of Lambo, and keep making cars that extremely niche oriented for the hardcore audience becuase that's what's expected from that division, Ferrari seems lost. They seem to have committed to growing their Maserati line, which is fine, but then why is the 612 still a Ferrari? Why not make the 612 a Maserati and keep the racy models under the flag of the prancing horse? The 612 would have been a perfect Maserati, it's exactly what that mark needs, even moreso than the Quattroporte.

They need to get back on track, or they'll wind up being the next Mercedes. Does anyone even remember when it was actually special to own a Benz? Yes kiddies, it used to be. Now they're a volume car company like everyone else because in the 80s they decided that they needed endless expansion through volume.

 

All very true indeed. Ferrari is most certainly, in the interests of being attractive to gargantuan NBA players and other professional athletes, as well as well-heeled, blue bloods who can't or won't, because of multiple knee/hip replacement surgeries, drive a manual transmission, allowing the much-heralded marque to drift further and further away from it's race-inspired, balls-out, heritage. The 612 Scaglietti might as well be a Pontiac TA on steroids and entered in next years Daytona 500 (don't get me started about NASCAR) The cars are sitting further and further off the ground, featuring larger proportions, as if to "trick" the new generation of buyer into believing that they are not race cars for the street, but actually SAFE suv's for men, and what's with the new horn sound? The old style European high-pitched siren-like horn has been replaced by a generic, bland pitch straight out of a Chevy Monte Carlo. WTF Ferrari, wake up !!!

 

Anytime youd like to compare repair bills you let me know.

 

Sad but true. I think I'll stay in the 80's.

 

For everyone dissing the 612, go back and read your Ferrari books. The V12 2+2 model has been in the lineup since 1960!!! It always sold better than any of the other models until the 308 was introduced. The wealthy have always wanted a nice GT car. Nothing has changed. Remember, people were willing to spend more on a 365 GT 2+2 than a 275 GTB. A 365 GT4 2+2 was more expensive than a boxer. A 412i was more expensive than a TR. The reason 2 seater Ferraris hold their value well is that they didn't make very many of them.

In the long run, the collector world won't be kind to the TR, 3x8, 355, 360, because they made too damn many of them.

 

That doesn't make it RIGHT does it? BTW, Allan, I am knocking on wood as I write this but total repair/maintenance bills to date 5/01-2/04 = $287.00

EAT YOUR HEART OUT Lamborghini fans !!!

 

That's a good point Rob !!

 

Rob,

It can happen ...... In Allen's Dream World.. Now the main thing to make sure of is that we are talking in MPH 200 KPH would not be to much of an issue as it is only 125 MPH.. Just dont let Allen have a loop hole like that

The Other Rob

 

its cause i haven;t been here this weekend

 

Wooooopeeee! 300.00 in repairs in a 200hp unstressed, cant get out of its own way 8 cylinder!

When you can say that youve pounded the hell out of a 600hp on motor, or 750-800hp V12 on nitrous, for years on end with only oil and filter changes/tire changes/ gas and nitrous bottle refills, then we can talk.

As for doing 200mph on the island, already been done. 125Mph is cruising speed from here to the other side. And car is driven almost daily, unless raining, then i take out the Ferrari with the top down.

 

This is the eye of the storm for cars, the new NSX coming out, the new 911, the new or big motor modena, not out next week, but several months away, so in the mean time, all we have to look at is the new 645 which sucks as does all of the new BMW styles. A long summer.....ahead

 

Allan, that's 270hp thank you very much.

 

Haha 270 in overinflated Ferrari lingo. Btw, i love the 328, one of my favorite Fcars.