Montezemolo's departure from Ferrari - be careful what you wish for...

I think we can expect to see the Ferrari brand slowly diluted over the next 10 years. I don't doubt they'll continue to make great cars but I suspect they'll miss the magic that makes me want a 458 over a 12C; a LaFerrari over a P1.

Whatever people think about LDM's character, his style of management, his outlook and the way he did things, the involvement he had in turning around Ferrari's fortunes on and off the track cannot be overestimated while the road car business went from producing duffers that only sold on the strength of the brand to producing many cars that are truly epic and fabulous, which in turn drew in buyers who wanted a genuinely decent car. And he was also instrumental in the approach Ferrari took in designing and engineering their cars from just purely history, passion and style in something even more meaningful, such as advanced technology and deep down, thorough engineering. And all of this was achieved without diminishing the brand or history and if anything, it was enhanced by their great cars and the success on track too. Sergio Marchionne clearly has a different idea of where he wants ferrari to go and how he views the brand, but he must be careful not to dilute the brand, the cars or the history. It's all very well looking at what the VW Group has achieved with Lamborghini but the basics of what they have achieved was similar to what LDM did with Ferrari, improving products and bettering the brand, but not at the expense of Lambo's history and what it stands for in their cars. Remember what has happened to Bentley under the VW Group; while they've been a success story sales wise, some of the cars they're producing have dented the Bentley name somewhat, so if that's the approach Marchionne intends to follow then Ferrari will be diluted and more so if he's planning to use the prancing horse as no more than a marketing and sales machine for the FCA Group and increase numbers. And while component sharing is fine, just look at the way BMW have mastered Rolls Royce, it can also be detrimental if managed incorrectly and I just hope that what Marchionne wants to achieve with Ferrari doesn’t result in the 458's descendant in 10 years time having a steering wheel and all of its switchgear shared with a Fiat 500 or the California of 10 years time simply being a rebodied Maserati GranTurismo. Personally, Ferrari is doing well as a road car business, leave it alone for the time being and concentrate on reviving Alfa and expand and develop Maserati.

I remember all sorts of things from back in the early '90s, and I'm sure this wasn't the assessment of the Mondials, 348 variants and Testarossas when Autocar staffers managed to get behind the wheel....