New broom at Ferrari Sergio Marchionne has caused a ripple of unrest by announcing that he wants to expand production to 10,000 units per year, which would mean an (almost) thirty percent increase in the number of Ferraris on the road.
He told CNBC that initially he wants to increase the number to 7,200, although even this modest rise could concern Ferraristi who may now be in danger of seeing someone else on the road in the same car (can you imagine?!)
Former Ferrari Chariman Luca Di Montezemolo’s tenure as top man at Ferrari could be considered a success, having steered both the F1 team and road car sides of the business through their most successful spells ever. However Marchionne insists that Ferrari ‘is in good hands with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles… as long as we don’t screw up the DNA of Ferrari.’
Keeping production low served to keep prices high for both new and used cars and maintained a certain level of exclusivity it might be argued, not to mention whopping profits (despite producing a piffling amount of cars compared to the rest of FCA, Ferrari’s activity accounts for around 12 percent of the group’s annual operating profit.)
There’s probably little to worry about. Ferrari is doing very well for itself and the ‘extra’ units being produced are likely to be absorbed by China’s (and other developing countries’) voracious appetite for high-end performance cars. As long as the rest of the Fiat-Chrysler group is doing its thing successfully the extra production shouldn’t cause any issues.
Decreeing that production is to ultimately rise to the 10,000 mark is bold stuff from Marchionne seeing as though Di Montezemolo’s office chair is barely cold. With the rest of the FCA group not doing as well as Ferrari, might he be in danger of squeezing it too hard?
&width=75)
&width=75)
&width=75)
&width=75)
&width=75)
&width=75)
&width=75)