After many rumours, the President of Ferrari Luca di Montezemolo announced he will step back from the company he has led for the last 23 years. Big boss from the FIAT Group, Sergio Marchionne himself will take over. The end of an era and in my eyes, possibly a huge mistake. For Ferrari as brand in general and even more for its millions of red fans.Luca Cordero di Montezemolo has been the big leader of the Italians for over 20 years. He has joined the brand in the seventies as assistant of Enzo Ferrari himself. Later he took over the team and the whole brand. With di Montezemolo at the top Ferrari booked their biggest successes, 124 victories in Formula One and the brand became one of the strongest supercar brands in the world. With Ferrari Stores all around the world, filled with tons of merchandising of the red team. Ferrari is a team and a brand based on tradition. Well, it was. Marchionne is determined to change the whole team.
Enzo Ferrari's only reason to build streetcars was to make money to fund his racing team. That was his only priority. He limited the amount of cars that were produced and di Montezemolo followed that tactic for the next decades. And it worked perfectly, last week the brand announced record earnings up by 14.5 percent in the first half of 2014 over the same period last year, which itself had seen a 7.1-percent increase over the year before. Di Montezemolo restricted the production this year to a max of 7.000 cars a year, Marchionne wants at least 10.000. That's production up by almost 50%This is only one of my many doubts about Ferrari's future with Marchionne. Ferrari is an exclusive super brand. "We don't build cars, we build dreams", Enzo said. Di Montezemolo also wanted to build dreams, Marchionne wants to build as many cars as possible. That worked with Fiat but Ferrari is no Fiat. Ferrari has become much more than a car brand. Ferrari is passion and history and I fear Marchionne will neglect that. Ferrari doesn't need to compete with a Porsche Panamera or a Cayenne, they should stay with what they do best, exclusive supercars. A Ferrari car must stay something special, a dream for many, reality for the happy few.
I also wonder what the new boss will mean for the Formula One department. Marchionne wants to make profit and Ferrari's F1 budget is about 200 million euro each year. I wouldn't be surprised if Marchionne wants to cut in that budget as well, to higher the profit. But if that will help to achieve better results and new championships, that's a completely other question...
Marchionne shouldn't forget that Ferrari is a team and brand with millions and millions of fans and they live the passion that he is only interested in selling. He wants to sell the cars, we want to live the dream. Di Montezemolo was also of the second kind, Ferrari was his life and he honestly cared for the whole brand. Marchionne is more the businessman kind of person and I just hope he will not destroy the legacy Enzo Ferrari and Luca di Montezemolo have built. As fans, we are the ones who stick behind our team. When drivers, engineers and bosses leave, we're still there supporting the team. So Mr Marchionne, please don't just think about the money but think about the millions of Ferrari fans as well when you have to make decisions about the future of the company. Prove me I'm wrong doubting you. Forza Ferrari! Catya Leroux
