Mr Ferrari enters the race

[The Stig]

At first glance, there is something all too familiar about Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and his pitch for a place in Italian politics.

Once again, as when Silvio Berlusconi "came down on to the field" in 1994, a very rich man is putting himself forward as the saviour of a troubled nation. Once again, an outsider is trying to burst on the scene at a moment when Italy's powerful northern industrialists - of whom Mr Montezemolo is one - fear for their wealth.

On this occasion, it is because of Italy's enduringly dismal economic performance. When Mr Berlusconi - another powerful northern industrialist - entered politics 13 years ago, it was because the collapse of the old, post-war order was threatening to deliver the country into the hands of the former Communists.

Once more, an "anti-politician" has arisen at a time when Italians' faith in politicians - never particularly high - is at an unusually low ebb. The risk that Mr Montezemolo's initiative could drag Italy towards Latin American-style populism is evident.

But there are important differences between the man who turned around Ferrari and the one he is seeking to emulate (and perhaps replace).

One of those differences makes his challenge less credible. Unlike Silvio Berlusconi, he does not own three of the country's seven national TV channels. Moreover, as a political outsider, he can easily be frozen out of access to RAI, Italy's public broadcaster, which operates three of the remaining four channels.
Mr Montezemolo may endear himself to a section of the press. But barely one Italian in 10 buys a newspaper every day. So he will not be able to use that direct access to the ordinary voter that was such an important element in Silvio Berlusconi's meteoric rise to the top.

In other ways, though, Mr Montezemolo is a more plausible contender for political office. He is untainted by accusations of corruption. And what he is proposing is something a good deal more in touch with reality than the nonsense spouted by Silvio Berlusconi about working miracles.

In fact, to judge by the speech with which he launched his challenge, Mr Montezemolo wants a nation that has traditionally preferred the path of least resistance to accept it needs rigorous, painful change if it is not to lose touch with the rest of Europe. It would mean public employees acknowledging that they might just have to lose their jobs if they were shown to be manifestly incompetent or dishonest. It would mean everyone having to pay tax so the tax rates could be brought down from their current giddying heights. And it would mean the unions accepting they had a duty not just to older workers in stable employment with ample pension rights.

The degree to which Italy remains hidebound is difficult to exaggerate. This is a country in which, until recently, hairdressers were not allowed, by law, to open on Mondays.

Recent polls have shown liberal economic reform is an increasingly popular cause among Italians. But many are nevertheless deeply resistant to change. And what Mr Montezemolo is offering them is years of intensely disruptive change with the hope that, after 2015 (that was the date he mentioned), things will get better.

What is more, he is apparently proposing to make his offer from outside the existing party structure.

Small wonder he said he faced "an uphill drive".