Was Luca right?

[Dare]

http://jalopnik.com/ferraris-ousted-chairman-was-right-1636474292

[Jericoke]

I'm sorry, I'm not sure I see what Luca was 'right' about?

As far as I can tell, the only decision mentioned was limiting Ferrari sales to 7000 units a year.

Why is 7000 a number that keeps it exclusive, but 8000 dilutes the brand and makes it worthless?

is 7000 a magic number set down by Enzo?

Is it the capacity that the current factory can handle while maintaining quality?

Is it a specific fraction of overall Fiat sales?

Is it a specific fraction of world wide auto sales?

Every other article about automobiles talk about the growing markets in India and China.  If there are more car buyers, then, to me, there must be more Ferraris.  If Ferraris make up a smaller percentage of cars on the road, then the magic of seeing one will dry up.

I don't want to see Ferrari become Porsche, selling sedans and SUVs just to capitalize on the name.  (Don't get me wrong, if that's what they want to do, I wouldn't blame them)  But Ferrari has two jobs:  winning races, and making money.  They haven't won enough races, and it seems that they haven't maximized the money they could make.  I should think that one out of two would have made Luca 'Right', but when he fails at both of his only two jobs?

[cosworth151]

Enzo used to say that he would carefully determine the exact demand for a given model, and then build one less than that.

[lkjohnson1950]

I believe the point is that under Luca Ferrari has been highly profitable, has produced iconic cars, become an extremely well known and well regarded brand, and enjoyed a great deal of racing success. Not a bad job of managing I'd say.

[Scott]

It's clear there is more to Luca's removal than just what we read.  Knowing how Luca interferes with the Ferrari F1 team management, perhaps he was also trying to still micro-manage Fiat after he was the interim CEO.  Maybe he couldn't get his fingers out of it all and ruffled too many feathers. 

[Jericoke]

I believe the point is that under Luca Ferrari has been highly profitable, has produced iconic cars, become an extremely well known and well regarded brand, and enjoyed a great deal of racing success. Not a bad job of managing I'd say.

I get the feeling from the article that Ferrari was less profitable than it should be.  That's my problem with it, there is no real facts to prove he was right or wrong, just a disagreement saying that Luca era Ferrari should have made more money and won more races.

I want to to know WHY they sell 7000 Ferraris.  Selling 7000 isn't right or wrong in itself.  If there are 20,000 back orders, then, sellng 7000 seems wrong.  If there are 2,000 sitting on dealer lots, then selling 7000 also seems wrong.

I just don't see anything in the article supporting Luca's decisions at all, just a vague description of what he decided.

[John S]

I want to to know WHY they sell 7000 Ferraris.  Selling 7000 isn't right or wrong in itself.  If there are 20,000 back orders, then, sellng 7000 seems wrong.  If there are 2,000 sitting on dealer lots, then selling 7000 also seems wrong.

I'm guessing that the 7000 is set more by how the workforce can craft the cars at a profitable cost, remember the Ferrari production line is not a heavily robot automated one and most of the product is still individually made. There must be a limit the skilled experienced workforce can manufacture and the actual physical factory set up also may mean that number is optimum.

Often chasing higher numbers can cost in both a much higher investment and a lesser quality product, maybe Luca was not prepared to dilute the product - or just feared that might happen.

We've all heard of the phrase "Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs"   

[Jericoke]

I want to to know WHY they sell 7000 Ferraris.  Selling 7000 isn't right or wrong in itself.  If there are 20,000 back orders, then, sellng 7000 seems wrong.  If there are 2,000 sitting on dealer lots, then selling 7000 also seems wrong.

I'm guessing that the 7000 is set more by how the workforce can craft the cars at a profitable cost, remember the Ferrari production line is not a heavily robot automated one and most of the product is still individually made. There must be a limit the skilled experienced workforce can manufacture and the actual physical factory set up also may mean that number is optimum.

Often chasing higher numbers can cost in both a much higher investment and a lesser quality product, maybe Luca was not prepared to dilute the product - or just feared that might happen.

We've all heard of the phrase "Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs" 

I can think of dozens of potential reasons why 7,000 is a magical number, but they're just guesses.  if Luca is 'right', then surely the article would include something.

If the new guy thinks 8,000 is the magic number, and Luca can only deliver 7,000, then he's got to go.