[ashwin.terminat]

Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said on Wednesday that he would quit his post at the end of the month, after the Scuderia suffered a disastrous home Grand Prix at Monza on Sunday.

The chairman of parent company Fiat, Sergio Marchionne, will take over di Montezemolo's role at the sports car maker and Formula One's most successful team in history.

"Ferrari will have an important role to play within the FCA [Fiat Chrsyler Automobiles] group in the upcoming flotation on Wall Street," di Montezemolo said in a statement. "This will open up a new and different phase which I feel should be spearheaded by the CEO of the Group."

The Italian businessman and politician called Ferrari "the most wonderful company in the world," saying he was leaving after "almost 23 marvelous and unforgettable years in addition to those spent at Enzo Ferrari's side in the 1970s."

Source: http://online.wsj.com/articles/ferra...its-1410334352

[deetjohn]

It is a sad development. Luca may not be everyone' cup of tea, but there is no doubt on what he achieved for Ferrari after Enzo was gone.

The company was in deep trouble in the 90s both with road cars and F1 and Luca delivered in a BIG way. He made Ferrari the company we know it.

The road car division has gone from strength to strength. Be it innovation, technology, profitability, or quality of machines made. The cars even though very desirable have never been this good.

The success with Schumi, Todt and Brawn was unprecedented in F1 and changed the way the sport was run. True, the past 6 years have been disappointing for Scuderia in F1 but I don't think that is the sole cause for Luca' departure.

There is a talk of Marchionne wanting to milk the Ferrari brand for the better good of Fiat-Chrysler Group be it an IPO offering for Ferrari even though the brand is cash rich, or doubling the number of cars made each year.

So, what next? Cheaper cars, Ferrari SUV or saving money on R&D and sport?? For a brand I love, it just doesn't make easy reading.

Thank You Luca for everything. You'll be missed.

[justin.das]

Mod Note : There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the forum experience for other readers.

Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use spell-checkers.

[GTO]

Luca is the man . This is Ferrari's loss all the way. I doubt a Fiat boss will ever see Ferrari the way that a Ferrari boss can.....I'm talking about you, Mr. Marchionne. Ferrari needs a heart over head approach, not the other way around.

He's steered Ferrari superbly over the last 2 decades especially, maintaining the desirability, exclusivity & profits of the road car division. Ferrari continues to report record earnings!

That said, his handling of the F1 team left a lot to be desired. Schumacher was unceremoniously dumped, and poor personnel choices (team lead, technical director etc.) have led to one failure after another. The only good decision made was hiring Alonso, but well, there's just so much he can do with a slow car. They say the F1 team's awful performance is the reason behind Luca's firing, although I think it's a battle of egos too. Both - Luca & Sergio - are incredibly headstrong personalities who haven't seen eye to eye on a variety of topics (including Ferrari's IPO).

Goodbye, Mr. Montezemolo. Indeed, it's the end of an era. I remain a fan.

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by GTO

He's steered Ferrari superbly over the last 2 decades especially, maintaining the desirability, exclusivity & profits of the road car division.

If one was ever looking for a difference of opinion between Luca and Marchionne, look no further,

Luca di Montezemolo last year said:

"The exclusivity of Ferrari is fundamental for the value of our products,"

Meaning,
Wealthy people around the world are snapping up Ferraris and the company is worried the brand might lose its appeal as a symbol of rarefied luxury. As a result, it will scale back production to below 7,000 units this year, compared with 7,318 last year.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...clusivity.html

And just after Luca steps down, Marchionne says this:

“If that class increases, we should be able to follow them,” Marchionne was quoted as saying at an event in Italy. “The waiting list will become too long, and people get tired.”

Meaning,
Bloomberg reports that Fiat SpA chief executive officer Marchionne will become Ferrari chairman on October 13, and that under his guidance the brand will look to increase its yearly sales volumes from the current 7000 per annum to 10,000 units globally.

Source: http://www.caradvice.com.au/307898/f...ew-leadership/


Horrible. Just horrible.

And Luca said this after stepping down:

“Ferrari is now American, which represents the end of an era.”

Ferrari? American? Please, no!

[deetjohn]

A very good piece by Andrew Frankel of AutoCar UK on Luca' final day with Ferrari. Insight - Luca di Montezemolo's final Ferrari press conference

Di Montezemolo sat alone in the middle of the room at the Paris motor show, arms open and gesturing as he spoke. Marchionne sat to one side at a table, arms folded or with one hand under his chin. At one time in di Montezemolo’s farewell speech to the company for which he became almost as synonymous as its founder, Marchionne found time to flick through some fabric swatches.

The interplay between Luca di Montezemolo and Sergio Marchionne was absorbing.


Luca' final function was the unveiling of the new 458 Speciale A

[shankar.balan]

The Soul has departed from Ferrari and taken along a little bit of the madness, the fun, the pizzazz and the "savoir faire" with it.
Now, to quote Richard Hammond of TG, Ferrari, is in a sense reduced to little more than a vehicle to sell little key rings, teddy bears, caps and stickers...

[Fullrevs]

A beautiful farewell given to the legendary Luca Di Montezemolo. The video shows some archived footage which is sentimental to watch for any Ferrari fan.

Click here for Video

Source: GPUPDATE.net