With the luxury automotive industry still reeling from the leadership change, the Ferrari brand may now be for sale. Initial reports indicate that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles are poised to split off the Ferrari brand and lead a certain amount of shares to market. It seems that soon there will be signs screaming: Ferrari brand for sale.
The company won’t be parting with all of its Ferrari brand shares, or handing the reins to the highest bidder. Instead, they will offer approximately 10% of the separated Ferrari brand as early as next year. The remaining 80% percent will be made available to Fiat Chrysler shareholders and the additional 10% remain with the son of Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari. It seems quite odd to think that son of the founder of one of the most successful brands in the world holds only a 10% share.
The Ferrari brand family tree:
- Chrysler absorbed Fiat in 2009, saving it from certain death.
- Fiat owns most of the Ferrari brand. It began with a 50% share in 1969 and is now at 90%.
- Therefore, Chrysler Fiat is the proud parent company of the Ferrari badge.
Sergio Marchionne is responsible for the hardest decisions and faces many challenges as his new position begins.
Why would Fiat Chrysler separate the Ferrari brand and part with a majority of its shares? Luca Di Montezemolo lead the Ferrari brand for 23 years before leaving things to Fiat SpA CEO Sergio Marchionne. Marchionne projects that the end result of the business model retake will create an additional $5.1 billion in profit for the Fiat Chrysler company. It seems that the company is suffering from a staggering debt totaling around $14 billion dollars. Marchionne recently took over as CEO, and seems to be addressing the major areas head-on. He stated the following on the matter: “The change is really designed to deal with the worst case scenario.”
Fun fact: Ferrari only sells around 200 cars per month in the United States and 7,000 annually in all markets. Sometimes great sacrifice must be made to stay afloat. In the end, the most important aspect of the transition will be for the Ferrari product to remain top notch and the brand identity to hold its core values.
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