Fiat Selling Ferrari?

2b1ask1

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That'll put the bean counters in charge so expect boring boxes only in another 10 years then!
 

Chrisbassett

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From what I read, that's why montezemolo left - because he didn't want to see ferarri being used as a money raising asset, but there was no easy way for the Chrysler/fiat merger to go ahead without more money. As soon as that decision was made, his fate was sealed.
 

conaero

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Oh bollox, Maserati next?

Maybe the new Ferrari owner might get involved.

Mind you, with the Maserati having Chrysler underpinnings, they might not sell it off.

Fiat doing OK

Lancia fooked

Alfa fooked

Maserati watered down

Ferrari off

Not a great bit of news now is it?
 

bigbob

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Maserati has been sufficiently dislocated from Ferrari now that it causes me no angst. The fact that the new turbo petrol engines are still built by Ferrari is neither here nor there now that the new cars are built in Turin. Shame but it's all moved on. Makes our older cars with Ferrari n/a engines, Ferrari bodies and Ferrari paint, things to cherish.
 

Parisien

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Things still going south in italy economy wise, who knows what family jewels might be sold off to highest bidder


P
 

Chrisbassett

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Maybe the new Ferrari owner might get involved.

Looks like Ferrari will be a public listed company, so no new "Owner" just a board and a bunch of spread sheets maximising shareholder benefits.

I share L de M's sentiments, it's not where he wanted the company to go.
 

Grant V

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It seems like the whole car industry has been turned on it's head, and that the car guys have left the building. It's all about profit to satisfy the shareholders, and you guys are right, when the bean counters step in, things go south.
Porsche lost it's way when the bean counters decided on the Cayenne, and now we similar plans from Bentley. Bentley!!! wtf?? Sorry, chaps, but I can't get my head around a Maserati diesel either, as good as it might be.
Mercedes, BMW and Audi are churning out never before seen car segments and trying to be everything for everyone - it's bonkers.

Maybe I'm just an out-of-touch idealist living in the past.....
 

hodroyd

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This sounds like a money injection excercise, they keep overall control and the 10% fill the coffers for a bit longer..?? I would need to see very precise future plans before getting on that boat..??
 

Emtee

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Interesting, though not unexpected I guess...

Anyway Ferrari is already in PLC ownership, just under the FCA umbrella. Depending on how you read the article it's only 10/20 percent of the shares being offered to the markets with the remainder being sold preferentially to existing FCA stock holders, so I can't see it making any real difference, at least in the short term.

This could be good for Ferrari as, rather than going cap in hand to the cash-strapped FCA, they can look directly to their investors for injections of capital either from within or from share issues. I very much doubt that a halo brand like Ferrari will struggle to find investment and I would have thought there's room for another two models without diluting the brand at all.

It could also be good for Maserati's strategy, as there will be less need for them to stay clear of mid-engined 2 seaters for fear of treading on Ferrari's prancing feet and FCA will have all that lovely wonga lying about after they offload Ferrari.

It'll be an interesting one to watch as it unfolds...
 

Andyk

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Was thinking that Miles...It's not a sell off as such......The only thing for me is it Ferrari wasn't part of the group what would happen to Maserati dealerships as most sell through the Ferrari dealer network and to be honest it adds to that premium brand experience........OK Maserati dealers are starting to spring up stand alone.....The one in Cardiff for example but to be honest its not a patch on DL is Swindon...That's a far more appealing place to buy and go...
 

bigbob

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Good point re potential to remove the ceiling on Maserati performance.......and, unfortunately, price!
 

zagatoes30

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The merger with Chrysler was always going to end in some fragmentation, similar comments have been made about selling Alfa off to one of the Germans. Until it all works its way through it will be unclear where any of the brands are going. Unfortunately in business uncertainty is the worse place to be.
 

Emtee

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No, if I read it correctly it is a complete sell-off. 10/20 percent of the shares will go to the markets (snapped up I would have thought) and the other 80 percent will be SOLD to FCA investors. FCA will relinquish all control and it will be up to the new 'owners' to put their strategy for Ferrari in place. I may be putting two and two together and getting five, but Ross Brawn has visited Ferrari recently. He'd certainly make a great CEO and I think the markets would like him also. The sale would go through a great deal more easily with someone like him in place.

As for the dealers, they're independent of Ferrari, just affiliated, so they can sell what they want (within reason) so no reason to think that Ferrari and Maserati won't continue to sit side by side in the showrooms.
 

Contigo

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From Pistonheads forum member:

"I can tell you plenty about the FCA plan should you desire, as I've been following it for a while.

Marchionne (new head of Ferrari, but long time head of Fiat, now Fiat Chrysler) is historically an accountant, but it doesn't mean he's unsympathetic to the petrolhead side of things. I'm listening to a conference call now and he describes the move as being prompted by Ferrari's niche nature having little direct commonality with a mass production automotive manufacturer.

The big Fiat Chrysler plan is to increase volume, in the cheap sector but particularly in the premium segment. This means more volume for Maserati, already begun, and much more volume for Alfa, yet to really happen. That all needs product investment and so the divestment of Ferrari will at least raise a bit of that cash.

He's said a couple of other things of interest: that Ferrari depends on exclusivity through low volume and it would be self-defeating to try and increase that significantly, which people have been afraid he might do for a while. He also said something like "cars are almost incidental to Ferrari", and how it's a luxury brand above all else. I'm not sure that'll be taken as it was meant!

I've said it before: for a long time, from a shareholder PoV and especially in terms of financial results, Ferrari has been an oddball 'and in other news' item, a bit like their interests in say Magneti Marelli or the other incidentals. That tells you a few things: it can survive on its own, and it already has autonomy. I would tentatively say then that independent Ferrari is a good thing for prancing horse fans, affording even more freedom, but it's also probably not actually that much different from today."
 

Chrisbassett

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From an F1 website,

"FCA owns 90 percent of the Ferrari shares (the other 10 percent belonging to the Ferrari family) and the plan is for 10 percent to be floated and the remaining 80 percent to be given to FCA shareholders."

And...

"It is doubtful that FCA will lose ultimate control of Ferrari as a result as Exor SpA, the holding company of the Agnelli family, still owns 30% of the parent company."

So it sounds like FCA gets to raise some capital, create goodwill by making a whole load of new Ferrari shareholders and probably keep control for the short term (as they effectively get 30% of 80% of the shares back making them the largest shareholder, I'd have thought).

I'm not into high finance, so not sure what it all really means.
 

Andyk

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Nothing at all Phil.....If they do what they did with Lancia you'll have Maseratis running around with Chrysler badges on...