Montezemolo steps down as Ferrari president

[afx]

Luca di Montezemolo will step down as Ferrari chairman, putting an end to a week of speculation about his future.

At the weekend Montezemolo said he intended to see out a three year deal with the company, but on Wednesday confirmed he was standing down. He said he felt it was time to move on ahead of parent company FIAT Chrysler Automobiles' planned flotation on the New York Stock Exchange next month.

"Ferrari will have an important role to play within the FCA Group in the upcoming flotation on Wall Street," he said. "This will open up a new and different phase which I feel should be spearheaded by the CEO of the Group.

"This is the end of an era and so I have decided to leave my position as Chairman after almost 23 marvellous and unforgettable years in addition to those spent at Enzo Ferrari's side in the 1970s.

"My thanks, first and foremost, to the exceptional Ferrari women and men from the factory, the offices, the race tracks and the markets across the world. They were the real architects of the company's spectacular growth, its many unforgettable victories and its transformation into one of the world's strongest brands.

"A warm farewell and my thanks also to all of our technical and commercial partners, our dealers across the globe and, most particularly, the clients and collectors whose passion I so wholeheartedly share. But my thoughts go also to our fans who have always supported us with great enthusiasm especially through the Scuderia's most difficult moments."

He is expected to be replaced by FIAT boss Sergio Marchionne, who earlier this week warned Montezemolo that "nobody is indispensable" and criticised the performance of the F1 team.

The end of an era

• Luca di Montezemolo's departure represents a key change in the direction of Ferrari, but one that has been a long time coming. For some time Montezemolo and his replacement Sergio Marchionne have been at loggerheads over the direction of the brand, with Montezemolo keen to keep Ferrari autonomous from parent company FIAT Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) while Marchionne plans to bring it closer. At every opportunity, Montezemolo has been keen to point to his history of success at Ferrari - he has been hands-on since the 1970s and turned losses into profits when he became chairman in the early 1990s - but with FCA's flotation on the New York Stock Exchange he no longer fits the bill. Whether the new guard of Marchionne and Marco Mattiacci will do a better job in F1 remains to be seen, but for better or worse Ferrari will never be the same again.

[Lownslow]

Im sure it had something to do with Deadmau5 and the Purrari

[Jaguar man 21]

Im sure it had something to do with Deadmau5 and the Purrari

haha you may be right

[The Creative Explorer]

I can't say I'm sad about it. sure, he did a good thing on marketing and such, but the soul has left Ferrari soon after he started his reign.

[Matt Bacon]

the soul has left Ferrari soon after he started his reign.

In what way? When he started, the company had the F40 and the 348. On his watch, we got the F50, 355, 360s, 575, Enzo, F430s, California, 599s, F12 and LaFerrari... plus 8 F1 constructors championships, making them overwhelmingly the most successful F1 team. Which part of the soul went missing?

And do you think it's very likely that the boss of Fiat/Chrysler knows what to do to bring it back?

bestest,

M.

[ZTony8]

It's been said that the quality of Ferraris greatly improved under di Montezemolo's watch.He had purchased a 348 and said it was one of the worst cars he ever owned. Let's hope that under Emperor Sergio that the quality doesn't once again nosedive in the single minded pursuit of profit.

[ferrarijoe]

Truly a sad day for Ferrari. Sergio needs to worry about his Chrysler project and not Ferrari. I have been disappointed with the Ferrari F1 team for a while now and think the moves they made this year trying to restructure everything was done wrong. Seems to me from what I have read it is a huge lack of communication at Ferrari right now. Hopefully they turn it around quickly.

[Vince Nemanic]

I think that di Montezemelo was quite responsible for Ferrari's downfall in F1. He forced Schumacher to retire so that Raikkonen would join the team. When Michael retired, Ross Brawn and Jean Todt also quit the team. Granted, Kimi took the 2007 title, but the 2007 and 2008 cars were developments of the 2006 car of the Schumacher/Brawn/Todt era. The 2009 car that started the slide was a clean sheet design. And remember, di Montezemelo got rid of Kimi (by paying him to not run formula 1 for two years) in order to sign Alonzo. Massa was then strongly criticized and highly pressured for a couple of years, and oh yeah, who was third at Monza? Also, who are Ferrari's drivers this year?

Do you think that perhaps the Board members consider this a series of poor decisions?

[10thumbs]

Lets not forget he was the man who brought Michael Schumacher to Ferrari, and Ferrari back into the F1 game.

Interesting though, just yesterday Schumacher was in the news as he left the klinik for further care.

Michael

[Matt Bacon]

If the Board members are doing their jobs, then they shouldn't give a rat's about the politics of the racing team, and their only concern about the number of podiums is whether it has an impact on the financial performance of the company. The board's responsibility to the shareholders is to maximise the shareholder value. No one argues that Montezemolo turned the company round, and has continued to deliver record profits year on year of late. The fact that Marchionne can acknowledge that while simultaneously effectively firing di Montezemolo for "not winning races" suggests to me that Marchionne is 1) unprofessional, and 2) has lost sight of what the real job of a senior executive or member of the Board at ANY company is...

bestest,

M.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Matt Bacon

[sjordan2]

F1, Ferrari's golden amulet, seems to have been the deciding factor as the marque could no longer compete. Add that to Fiat's global brand ambitions and he was probably considered a goner last year. One of the the big questions is, how does all of this relate to the reintroduction of Alfa Romeo in the US next year, and its revitalization as a performance company for consumers, instead of just dull-looking everyday cars and low-end racers?

Edited September 10, 2014 by sjordan2

[Jeremy Jon]

Typical Italian, or specifically "Ferrari" histrionics!

LdM has been with Ferrari since the '70's and understudy to Enzo himself, so where he likely got most of his "my way" attitude, but he can be credited for bringing Ferrari road cars to more modern design & construction methods since the late '80's, and getting the 'right' guys (Brawn & Shumi) onto the F1 team for that epic string of victories, but since sadly politics has hurt the team, which is why even today Ferrari F1 success goes up & down so drastically IMO

[The Creative Explorer]

F430s, California, 599s, F12 and LaFerrari.

You are proud of those? They are horrible, there is no Ferrari soul in them at all. Plus they are hidious :-)

The 355, 550, 456 were not his cars, they were already under development when Enzo still lived. And yes, the F40 was the last great Ferrari.

Montezemolo made the Ferrari's into barbie cars, all of the Ferrariç can be driven by any halfbrained person on this globe. Before, they were halfbread racing cars. A Ferrari was something exclusive, rare, out of reach, hard to drive, but awarding. When you could own a Ferrari, you had something special.

With the F40, they were raced with. They had their own competitions. When was the last time you saw a F50, Enzo or will see a LaFerrari race? Never! They are bought basically by collectors for their value in the future.

The newer cars are driven by Playboy Bunnies, uninterested football stars and go so forth.

Yes, the quality is a lot better, but in the same time, the soul has left.

Except for the price, the Ferrari is nothing special no more, not like in Enzo's time.

And no, I don't think it will be better with Marchionne, it will only get worse.

But I will take a F40 always in favor of a F50 or Enzo and any early Ferrari over a new one.

[Jaguar man 21]

You are proud of those? They are horrible, there is no Ferrari soul in them at all. Plus they are hidious :-)

The 355, 550, 456 were not his cars, they were already under development when Enzo still lived. And yes, the F40 was the last great Ferrari.

Your kidding me right have you ever seen any of them in the flesh they are all absolutely beautiful. The 456 was hideous the f12 is far from ugly

[The Creative Explorer]

I've seen them in the flesh, I've driven them and they turn me on as much as walking around in my underwear on the north pole.

They are so fugly and they don't have that Ferrari-thing to them no more. Now they are just sporty coupe's, mere GT's.

I must admit the F12 does look better than the previous ferrari's, but they are too forced, to designy. The clean lines of the old pininfarina cars are gone, where they didn't had to use marketing to sell the cars and have design-tricks to design a car.

They are just fashion objects nowadays for the rich.

[afx]

From what I have read the main issue was that Montezemolo wanted to keep Ferrari autonomous and separate from the parent company (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) while Marchionne (Fiat CEO) wants to bring Ferrari more under the FCA umbrella to boost FCA's stock value. The F1 team's declining performance over the last decade also played a major role.

Edited September 11, 2014 by afx

[Brett Barrow]

Apparently Montezemolo felt that Ferrari was becoming "too American" . Here's a sneak peek at their 2015 lineup. What do you think?

H/t to jalopnik.com for this wonderful 'shop.

[johnbuzzed]

Will this have any effect of the cost of the upcoming Palmer Plastics La Ferrari kit?

[10thumbs]

@Erik....lmao!...."walking in my underwear at the North Pole"...."Barbie cars"!

Wonderful.

I like to read a real opinion. My opinion, the Dutch folks are cool.

Greetings,

Michael

Edited September 11, 2014 by 10thumbs

[Jaguar man 21]

This is why I would buy a mclaren