Ferrari SUV Codename: F16X

Boy is that thing ugly.
It looks like the head of an angry Praying Mantis

Does not look like an SUV, more like BMW's and Mercedes' tall coupes.

Like it or not (more not), I would be seeing these here in the roads of Tokyo soon then.

Very likely I would not be able to distinguish this from the rest of "exclusive" SUVs that are running around here already.

w/ smiles
Jimmy

The Sweater strikes again. The earth is trembling at San Cataldo Cemetery in Modena.

Omnipresent and ubiquitous Sweater COO who seem to show any lack of passions for cars.

w/ smiles
Jimmy

He's a shrewd bottom-line business guy. I would never think of him as a car guy.
And as we say; The proof is in the pudding...

Bean counter, precisely the mentality that brought General Motors into the United States Bankruptcy Court. Though in fairness, he may have some sense of Ferrari's geist

Seth, you may be right but he does not exude the geist.

A friend who live in Modena, told me last week, that the prototype of the Ferrari SUV is on testing ....
Mr. Pullover is a good economist but in the long time for me he will destroy brand .....

It is all about making money and raising the stock price. This move IS undermining the Ferrari brand. To use an English saying "Penny wise, pound foolish".

If Gianni Agnelli were still alive Sweater would still be counting beans in Canada. What has surprised me most is that John Elkann, Agnelli's grandson and principal heir for those who may not know, has permitted this on-going debasement of FIAT's prize possession.

Different times, different values, maybe ?

w/ smiles
Jimmy

Jimmy,

I believe there are two major factors driving their decisions, neither of which they have much control over:

They're a publicly traded company now.
In this day and age, "shareholder value" drives everything.

And given today's car buying habits (at least in the US), that means that there are only two kinds of company:
Those that are building an SUV, and those that will.
If you're not in one of those two groups, you're headed for extinction.

I was listening to National Public Radio yesterday and they were discussing electric cars. The expert pointed out that though all the car companies know electric is the future currently the money maker is picup truck and SUVs. Ford sells more SUVs than cars to the public and the guess was that 90%, yes 90% of Ford profit comes from trucks/SUVs.

Ferrari is losing something that is very intangible and valuable. I would make a comparison with a stripper. Once the girl jumps the hurdle of taking off her cloths and dancing for money, selling her body for more money is a natural next step. So start with the SUV and then bring in a competitor to the BMW 3 series and Lexus?. Sad,sad..

I think we all would consider Porsche a sports car company.
Yet I believe it was recently reported that 67% of their sales are SUVs.

Killer, I cannot disagree with your two factors. It is precisely there that the Sweater made the crucial mistake, spinning off Ferrari as an independent public Company. As a subsidiary of FIAT properly managed it was a veritable money machine for FIAT, retained its independence and much greater freedom of action and still cast on FIAT the glow of the Ferrari halo. Now, dissipation.

Do not claim to be an expert here, but...casually looking at the recent flow of things and from the standpoint of "images", it appears to me that Lamborghini (owned by Audi now, I believe) seems to be doing much better than Ferrari. At least that is how it appears here in Japan. Lambos seem to be retaining their exclusivity persona. Sales and new dealerships & services have grown considerably over the past years here.

w/ smiles
Jimmy