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

The departure of Luca Cordero di Montezemolo has been on the cards for a while - not least since it's six years since the F1 team won a world championship and Italy's Tifosi are notorious for their impatience and sense of entitlement.

In the end, however, it's not the racing team's problems that have done for the man who at times seemed to be styling himself as the latter-day Enzo.

It is Montezemolo's insistence on maintaining a traditional shape for Ferrari - as an independent company with mostly separate engineering, finances and annual production restricted to 7000-8000 cars a year that has brought the turmoil

Fiat supremo Sergio Marchionne has grown steadily more impatient with what he sees as Montezemolo's intransigence when it comes to making maximum commercial use of the Ferrari name to the benefit of the whole Fiat-Chrysler group.

The rate of growth of VW's Lamborghini organisation - and the prominence of its on-message, youthful management - has shaded Ferrari, for all its power and prominence, in recent years, and Marchionne wants some of that. Today would not be too soon

It's ironic that 23 years ago Montezemolo's return to Ferrari (he had been a very successful F1 race team manager in the Lauda era) was as a moderniser.

Back in the early '90s Ferrari was making Mondials, 348s and Testarossas, none of them very good. Montezemolo made an instant decision to start making cars that were both more practical for buyers to use, better equipped and built, and nicer to drive. He was very hands-on, and the result was the 355, still celebrated as a driver's car, and a return to GT cars like the 456.

Montezemolo's unique relationship with (and trust in) Michael Schumacher built a great racing team - Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne were in there too - which delivered enormous success. But it ended, as these things do. The men who delivered the inspiration moved on and perhaps Montezemolo tried too hard to stick with the old ways.

Steve Cropley

Title: Editor-in-chief

Steve Cropley is the oldest of Autocar’s editorial team, or the most experienced if you want to be polite about it. He joined over 30 years ago, and has driven many cars and interviewed many people in half a century in the business.

Cropley, who regards himself as the magazine’s “long stop”, has seen many changes since Autocar was a print-only affair, but claims that in such a fast moving environment he has little appetite for looking back.

He has been surprised and delighted by the generous reception afforded the My Week In Cars podcast he makes with long suffering colleague Matt Prior, and calls it the most enjoyable part of his working week.

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paolo secondo 20 October 2014

Montezemolo

This article seems influenced by the comments by the Italian press where the sacking of Montezemolo is darkly seen as a power struggle between Marchionne and Montezemolo. People in Italy hardly understand why LCDM after all that he has done for Ferrari should be let go and they always see ulterior motives. But in GB , as well as in the USA, companies are judged on recent results, and that' s where LCDM is at fault.....Nobody can possibly criticize his management of the production line, except perhaps that some model (California?) are nor as good as they should be. But the Scuderia has been clearly mismanaged for several years. LCDM has bot been able to see that Ferrari's technicians have not been adequate, nor he was able to hire or train better ones. The organization of the team was below par as well. But most importantly, in the last several years Ferrari lost political weight inside the Formula1, therefore she has been forced to accept rules and regulations that are clearly against the team's interests. The impossibility of modifying and improve engines during the season is clearly a move that favors teams that assemble car. This rule has clearly hampered Ferrari's ability to obtain meaningful results during this season, and Marchionne was right in being upset for the dismal results at Monza and to intervene on behalf of the ownership.

jer 27 September 2014

Next Ferrari to be called the Marchionne?

He's a banker, let's see how he goes. I don't necessarily agree with the chain of thought that LDM has had his time. Ferrari make the best charismatic sports cars bar none and sell as many as they want, no issue there. If it's F1 then they would of won more championships if it was not for one A.Newey and he's somehwhat of a genius / freak of nature. Look at mclarens F1 results. Maybe it's difficult to make good road cars - mass production systems - and race cars that require systems and more design flair? Just an idea.

Smilerforce 11 September 2014