December 20, 2024 • 47 mins
Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna joins the podcast to talk about the future of the 85-year-old brand. Plus, the best cars of 2024 and Matt talks Harley-Davidson.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. I'm Matt Miller and
I'm Hannah Elliott and this is Hot Pursuit.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
And I guess it's already like a holiday edition too,
because I'm in Valencia in Spain.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
For at least Navidad.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Thank you. Uh. It's seventy degrees out amazing, which.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Even for Valencia is quite warm. But you're not knocked
off on holiday yet.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Where do you go after Friday?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I'm out, I'm out. We're gonna we're going to take
a journey with the dog over the river and through
the woods to grandmother's house. We go our little pup's
first car ride, like long, long journey, and I'm I'm
very excited. She's very excited.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Oh you're gonna how long? How long is the drive?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Well, the drives from La to Denver, so that's it's
about one thousand miles. You could do it in a day,
but I think we're gonna break it up and stop
somewhere around Grand Junction, nice way. So yeah, that'll be fun.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I'm very jealous of that. I love a long drive.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, I'll keep you posted. We're i mean, we're checking
the what the weather is, is the the one thing
to really be careful of because it can really catch
you out. And I actually grew up in Oregon driving
over the Cascades a lot in the winter, so I
am aware that if you're not prepared, can really catch
you out.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Is there a specific route that you're gonna take? What's
the route you take?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I haven't even got that far into planning.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
So there's nothing.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
So there's not like an I'm sure there is a
known route. I've never done this drive before. We've never
done it, so I'll have to get back to you
on that.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
No, I mean I always think of Ohio, New York
because I grew up in Columbus, New York, and so
my and my and also so we've always had a
place in New York in Ohio. So my whole life,
I've probably averaged like two or three trips round trips
a year. So you know, if I ask somebody, are
you going to go eighty or seventy six, you know
that they know when I'm talking about it.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yes, we need to discuss this mustache that has mysteriously
appeared when you cross international waters. A minute you get
out of the country. Are you even coming back.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I mean, I am coming back and I probably won't
have this kind of must dash when I go back
on TV for Bloomberg.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
But you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Everyone always questions why I have this? What if I
just want to have a mustache that?
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah. It Also I feel like it's your international persona.
I mean, you can be whoever you want to be
in Spain.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
True, it makes me much more American over here.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Also, I feel like you'd really fit in with law
enforcement and first responder teams, know, exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Like the fire Department, respectable people even in America. With
full on mustache. I don't see why I should not
be able to wear one. By the way, I've been
doing a lot of thinking about police lately. Police in
Boston ride Giant Harley Davidson Roade Kings and they had
their own special hic that's their fleet. Yeah it is
(03:16):
because I've done I've done a bunch of Fourth of
July events where we had super fancy police escorts to
and from the venue. And these guys all have big
fat mustaches like this, and they control those bikes as
if it were second nature. And they're you know, eight
hundred and fifty or nine hundred pound motorcycles. That is
(03:38):
a lot. I have seen, by the way, firsthand the
work of tariff here in Spain, because I went to
the Harley Davidson dealership to look at a fat Bob. Now,
in the US they stopped production of them, or stop
sales with them last year, but they were eighteen nine
and here in Spain in dollars, and here in Spain
they're twenty four to nine in Europe, so like closer
(04:02):
to thirty grand and dollars, So basically, you know, fifty
percent more expensive than they are in America.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Wow, that's what crazy, right?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Yeah, and yet the cops have them. They must be
getting some fret deal.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I'm sure they get a fleet deal in the US,
buy in bulk, it's not It's not a.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Great time for Harley in terms of sales either, so
probably fewer and fewer police departments are buying them, but
definitely in Boston they are.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Okay, this is good info, great to know.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I also thought of some buid cars here, So Chinese
electric cars.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Oh about the Wow, how did they look?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
They looked fine?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I mean they looked no worse than the typical sort
of Toyota or Honda Oh my goodness, we have to
talk about Honda as well. Yeah, Honda and Nithan getting
to get other as the third largest car maker. Not
you know, definite yet, but it does seem like it's
gonna happen, right, just shows the danger of Chinese competition.
(05:10):
Like buyd they can't compete anymore in the world's largest
car market, and they're gonna have to. I mean, how
long have those two been standalone brands? And come, I
mean I guess Nthan was part of Renault, but spend
decades and decades and decades.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah. So this is the news that Honda and Nissan
are exploring a merger that would create a real singular
rival to Toyota in Japan and would better position the
company to face challenges from the world and also from Tesla.
And I think this news is really, from what I'm
reading and hearing, has caused shares in Nissan at least
(05:49):
to searge.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Absolutely sure, the biggest jump ever come on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I mean yeah again, Like, I don't think the influence
of China in twenty twenty five and beyond can be overstated.
And this is another.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Expiple agreed one hundred percent because even though, so I
cover US markets as my day job, and in terms
of markets, the influence of China has waned substantially, but
in terms of the car industry, it is still the
world's biggest car market and growing at a faster pace.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah. The only difference is now it's realized it doesn't
need the European and American automakers. It can actually source
its own car market and we'll lean on the scales
if it needs to to make sure.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
That happens exactly. And it's a huge threat.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
So, I mean, it's not like Nissan was doing very
well anyway. They make about the same amount of cars
as Honda, and yet Honda has the market cap four
times larger than Nissan, so a real discount had been applied.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
But did you actually get inside any of these BYD
cars you've seen, because I'm so curious about Everyone says
the fit and finish and the fabrication is really good quality,
which is the whole point. It's not that old idea
of what it means to be made in China. It's
actually very well made.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
True.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I haven't gotten inside of any of them yet so far.
I've just seen them, you know, parked in the garage
under the central market.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
But can you please I've.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Watched the breakdown videos of them, you know, and they
look pretty fantastic. I've heard from some analysts like Nicolas
over at Data Track.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
He did a trip to check out the bid cars.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
He said, they're plastic e, but there's still decent competitors,
especially at that price point. And guess what, so are
all other cars at that price point plastic e?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Even good cars are plastic Yeah, you know what?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
And that's so interesting because Cox Automotive has their annual
recap call and then forecasting for twenty twenty five, and basically,
I mean one of the takeaways was that affordability sells
in the market today period. And you know, of course
we've got high interest rates in high prices that are
are affecting retail purchases and things are more expensive than ever,
(08:07):
so affordability cells that was kind of there.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I agree, it's kind of like.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
A duh, but apparently more than ever going into twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Well, you know, Bloomberg News you may have seen a
few weeks ago, did a great story about how the
high price of new cars is driving even wealthy people
to abandon the new car market and look at used cars.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
We interviewed I think a doctor in West.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Palm Beach who was like yo, I used to buy
a nu Mercedes or at least a Numercedes every two years,
and now the price has doubled, So I'm going to
look at the used market. It's it's the price is
really that are the big problem. They've just pushed so
many people out. And once you're once, you're not gonna
spend the money on something that the heart wants. Once
(08:54):
you start thinking about something that you know you need
or the wallet has to then and you no longer
care about paying a mid range price. So it's either
you get something that you really want, you send for it,
or you say no, I'll pay eleven thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Completely commute, right, yeah, completely completely. Another interesting thing that
Cocks shared to that point was that subcompike SUVs and
compact cars had the largest market shares in twenty twenty four,
and mid size SUVs and full size pickups had the
biggest loss. Again, to your point, like people are doubt,
(09:34):
they're they're gravitating smaller, and they're gravitating toward affordability.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
For sure. In America, a full size pickup is a
luxury vehicle.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Now completely completely like I was really, you know, on
my end of your car list, we included, which we
discussed on your TV show, Uh, the Ford F two
point fifty King Ranch which starts at like seventy five
thousand dollars, which was a to me seemed oh wow,
got one under one hundred thousand.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yes, I think for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
When when you say that price, I thought really for
the diesel, like, if I got an F two fifty
King r Ants with the big diesel motor, I would
expect to pay at least ninety grand I mean.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, that price doesn't include all the add ons and
extras we have. That's the qualifier. That's you know, like
the listed MSRP. I have a feeling if you go
to the automaker you might be suckered into adding some
things to that.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
But by the way, we didn't, so that was on
my TV show, but we didn't talk about your list yet.
So well that ends on the big one. Yeah, it
is a great segue. So we'll end on that, but
I want to touch on a few others. Sure, because
I saw, I know, the Fiat Chinko.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
One hundred what do you call it, Well, I call
it the five hundred D but chinkinta yeah that too.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I know that was on your list and we both
I loved that car. Also, I drove the five hundred,
the little electric Fiat five hundred in red, and I
thought it was amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
That goes to your point of if you're not going
to have a huge expense of something, just go the
opposite direction and get like the most affordable thing.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Well, to me, even that's a little bit luxurious because
it was over thirty grand.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Right, yes, yeah, I think thirty five.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
For a compact electric car. I mean that seems a
little much if I'm trying to save money. I'm looking
for something used at like twenty, right, So I think
it's a it is deserving of a sort of a
slightly luxurious or let's say, premium, you know, price, because
it's the design is beautiful, the paint was so nice,
(11:42):
the interior is nicely laid out, it was fun to drive,
its zippy.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
To me, that little car fell into the category of
it's something that feels special. And this is an aspect
of luxury that has nothing to do with price and
everything to do with how it makes you feel, and
the story behind it, and to me, with this Italian
heritage behind it, and just the attention to detail, like
(12:10):
you said, like it did look extremely sharp in the
liveries that they're offering. It just feels special. It has
nothing to do with the price necessarily, although yeah, thirty
six thousand dollars is nothing.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Well, so that's the thing it is.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I thought the price tag was to me, that's a
lot of money, right, because I could be getting two
great motorcycles for that. But then I saw a story
in Axios that says a Fiat dealership in Colorado is
offering a twenty twenty four Fiat five hundred E for
zero dollars per month and no down payment.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
What's the catch.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
That's what I'm looking for. You get ten thousand miles
a year. I'm reading the Axios story. Ten thousand miles
a year for free. You have to pay taxes totaling
thirteen hundred plus regiment registration fees of three ninety five.
You have to pay a disposition fee at the end
of the lease. Of the twenty seven months lease. I
don't know what it is, but I think the idea
(13:13):
is they just want the credits.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Interesting, they just want the sort of EPA credit.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, so I guess at the end you pay the
disposition fee is fairly substantial. It's like seventeen thousand, okay,
but still for twenty seven months and nothing up front.
Like if you want a car now and you only
have thirteen well, let's say fifteen ninety five in cash,
(13:43):
you can pay nothing for the next two years and
three months.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
This is in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yeah, okay, all right, let's get to the big Cahuna.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Car of the year.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Car of the year. Anyone who's really followed along won't
be surprised. It's the twelve cylinder Ferrari, the Ferrari Dodchi Chilindre.
I still am probably gonna get killed for saying it
like that, but.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I think Americans are safe just calling it the twelve cylinder,
right if you.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
If you walk into your Ferrari dealer.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
And you and they know you, and you know them,
and you're there to pick up you say, hey, I'm
here to pick up my twelve fells.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Also, yeah, but also there are many there are multiple
twelve cylinder Ferraris. So it is a little confusing. I mean,
admittedly so, and I do think Ferrari laughs. I think
this is their inside joke of if you can't speak
the language, then maybe you shouldn't buy the car. You know,
I might have This feels very wink in a nod,
(14:43):
But at any rate, I love this car so much
because it's unusual and it has a point of view
and a personality in a sea of appliances. Yes, it's expensive,
it's almost. It's four hundred and fifty nine thousand dollars starting.
It's a now vitually aspirated V twelve. It looks kind
(15:05):
of like a Ferrari Daytona at the front. It's got
some interesting elements in the rear, like just almost it's
I don't want to call it a hatchback, but it's
It kind of looks like a Ferrari FF, which I
know we all love and underrated. I just like it.
It's weird. The interior is very similar and just like
(15:27):
the Ferrari Roma, another Ferrari that I love. It's got
a good combination of screens and actual buttons and knobs.
Of course, it drives beautifully. It's so fast. Zero to
sixty two is two point nine seconds. I just love it.
It's got a personality. It's cool, and I think it's
(15:47):
going to age really beautifully too.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I don't think you're wrong. I definitely agree with you.
I think there's some weirdness about it. It's weird, yeah,
which which is cool because, let's face it, if you
just want a beautiful, elegant, you know, pen and Farina
penned Ferrari twelve cylinder, there are many out there to
(16:11):
choose from.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
They've already done that.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You know. They have to push the boundaries a little
bit because you know, I can go buy a five
point fifty Maronello if I want a gated shifter, if
I want a new one, I can get an a
twelve super Fast if I have the money, obviously, and
if you.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Have all those, you want something that looks a little
bit different.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, And it's.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Different but same, same, it's very similar. It's in the
in the same.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
When you look at it, you know it's a Ferrari,
but you also know, oh, it's that Ferrari, like, oh,
you know it's that one. You know it's obviously a Ferrari,
but it's also a very specific Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
So we're gonna play the interview of Benedette Opina, the
CEO Ferrari, you dropped by the office, and I have
all of these like poor person questions, why don't you
make a stick shift? You know, why all the computers?
Why are you downsizing to a V six for the
supercar for the F eighty And what I realized when
I spoke with him is something that's obvious and that
(17:25):
shows up in the comments every time.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
It's not for me.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I'm not their target market. You know, frankly, very few
of our listeners are going to be their target market.
I mean, yes, you quoted that four hundred whatever, but
the truth is you're not gonna get it unless you've
already bought like three or four other five hundred thousand
dollars Ferraris. So it's a totally different group of people
who genuinely give zero f about having a stick shift
(17:52):
or the purest you know, automotive feeling. They want the
newest thing that's closest to F one technology that they
can get that screams, I'm so rich that I don't
need to be able to.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Pronounce the name of the car I bought, you know.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Ah, yes, And you know, of course, the rest of
us love to dream and That's part of the beauty
of cars and sharing cars, because you still we still
feel like we can almost touch it, and we can
imagine what color we would get if we were getting one,
and we can imagine how we would spect the interior.
And I have to say, I don't think every person
(18:32):
who buys a Ferrari is the type of person that
you describe.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
I you know, now the newest Twelves Billainder from the dealer, right.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
No, Look, there are plenty of Ferrari owners who I've
spoken with, justin in reporting, who are truly nice, humble
people who love the cars because they are really sublime
to drive, and they're really beautiful, and who happened to
think that beauty beauty for its own sake is worth
a lot. And I think there have been some other
(19:02):
cars that we've discussed that are like almost deliberately ugly
or jarring, and this is the opposite of that. This
is like beauty is as important as everything else that
goes into making a car, which I'm seeing less and
less of. So yeah, obviously there are some people who
just buy it so they can show off, but not
(19:22):
everyone who buys a Ferrari is like that.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
For sure, No, there are people who appreciate the quality
and the technology.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
I'm just saying for the MEAs of the world.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I look at the puro sing whatever you call it,
the purosangua, right, yeah, and you need like a Google
developed quantum computer to be able to run each corner
of the suspension, which is insane.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Just give me coil over shocks, you know. So I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Anyway, let's get into the interview here. As Benedetto Vinya,
the CEO of Ferrari, Ferrari had it turns out a
great season. I mean, fantastic improvement. You almost won the
Constructors Championship. You're only fourteen points off. What did you think?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
I think that the team did a great job. This
year has been, as you said, fantastic year. Unfortunately we
were not the first one, but I congratulated really with
all the team, from Fred, the all the mechanics engineers,
the two pilot. I think this is a good launch
pedals for next year. I think that really the team
(20:25):
to serve a big thank you gratzia from all the
people from the fan, from the colleague.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
So I'm very very happy.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
I mean, it's you know, in my mind, Ferrari is
more connected to Formula One than pretty much any other brand.
And I grew up with Michael Schumacher and the Tifosi,
I mean total domination. It was amazing. And now you
have the chance to hire, or you have hired, you
have the chance to race with someone else who people
(20:55):
think may be the greatest driver of all time. What
are you looking forward to doing in twenty twenty five
with Lewis Hamilton.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
We are looking for Louis to join our team. We
are looking for another great season. We will do our
best to make sure that, let's say we achieve we
are competitive. I think it's important in this sport, like
in all the sport, to be competitive and to be
always to give the best. What is important in this sport,
(21:21):
and this is the sense of our brand, is to
keep alive, the will to progress, the will to make
always something better. I think Lewis will contribute will help us.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I mean you are competitive already, you showed this year
and he is obvious an incredibly skilled driver.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
But I think you know, a lot.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Of people feel that either Ferrari was selling cars to
race or racing to sell cars. And when we were
just talking to you, and I just sat in a
conference room and had an off record conversation.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
For a little bit.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
I think you highlighted the important sort of symbiotic relationship
between racing and business. It's not one or the other,
not one for the other, but they both really help
each other.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
The same biosis, as you say, is very important. Matt.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
I think, as I told you, there are three important
message and values for the racing team for the company overall.
One is all the technology innovation we do on the
track that we can bring on the road. Two, it
gives us a commercial platform. It is interesting for mini
sponsors many players that share the same values. And three,
(22:25):
it is a constant reminder that the only way for
a company to business stadium well in the long term
is this continuous will to progress and aving a sport
team embedded in the company. I think it's a big
asset because really it remembers all of us that one
weekend you went in that the one may you may lose,
but you never lose you always learn. That's very important.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I mean, I think it's fascinating, a fascinating way to
think about it. And also you mentioned the will to progress,
and I'm an old guy the kind who's stuck in
the past. I was really surprised when you came out
with the eighty that had a V six, because I
have thought, you know, a Ferrari supercar has to have
a V twelve or a turbo charged V eight. You know,
(23:10):
I'm from the days of the F forty when I
was in high school. That was the poster you know
we had on.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
Eh turbo, Yeah, eh turbo exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
And then I looked on your website and I saw
welcome to the era of V six. I think it
was on the two ninety six if you click internet.
Is that directly derived from Formula one racing? Is that
from the power plant on the track? That's what you
want in your most important supercoar.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
I would like to tell you that today if you
take a Lemon Iper car, if you take F one,
they are all V six hybrid.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
And when you think about the pinnacle of the technology,
when you want to do something that is pushing the limit,
well you need to stick to something that is the
living digis performances, and V six hybrid is one of those.
Just consider that our thermal engine in that car is
more than three hundred or spower per liter, and then
on top of the three leaders you ad the additional
(24:03):
three hundred terminal let's say.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Electric horse power.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
So I think you have to pick always the best
technology for the supercar, because the supercar is epitome of
the best let's say car you can make with technology
you have available at that time.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
You also, though, pay homage to your heritage with design cues.
I mean, in the twelve cylinder car, I can see
the Daytona very clearly, and the SUV, the puro saying.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
No, no, no, no no. The suv, Matt, we don't make suv.
We suv is a sport utility.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Okay, fair, I'm just trying to avoid an attempt at
pronouncing the Italian name because I know I'm going to
butcher heuro sanguine.
Speaker 5 (24:45):
I mean, you still have.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
The naturally aspirated V twelve of.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
The past, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Is it tough to on the one hand always be
reaching forward, you know, a technology and progress, and on
the other hand, you have to pay homage to such
an important, such an iconic past.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
That's the beauty of Ferrari.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
That's the beauty of a luxury company as Ferrari, that
is putting together the past and the future. That is
putting together the technology for the sake of delivering unique
emotion to our client. Because when you have the opportunity
to work for a company as Ferrari, everyone from first
to lust can put together the two dimensions the past
in the future. I like to say, in this way,
(25:24):
we all have two eyes. Okay, with one eye we
look at the past. With one eye we look at
the future, and then we have the brain that is
putting them together. That's what we do. Everyone in Ferrari
is doing it this way. It's not good when you
look only to the past. It's not good. Only when
you look, let's say, only to the futures. To look
at both dimensions and put them together. And that's what
(25:44):
we do.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I always wonder, and I'm sure everyone asks you. I
know Hannah has said. She asked, already are we ever
going to see a manual transmission in a Ferrari again?
Because I had the opportunity to drive a listener's car.
He has a three P fifty five and with the
gated shifter einety seven, I mean like goosebumps. I had
(26:06):
the hair standing up on the back of my neck
and just you know I wasn't perfect at doing my shifts,
but I thought, if I had this car, I would
spend every day practicing like it's such an amazing feeling,
the sound, And of course it's not the fastest sports
car in the world, it's probably no longer the best
handling sports car. But it was just the involvement and
(26:27):
the gratification that I got from hitting it right was
an amazing experience. Do we ever get that again?
Speaker 5 (26:33):
Look, one point that we do with Ferrari, we never
disclosed what's gonna be the future.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
It's part of this ability, it's part of the secrecy
we keep. But I can't tell you that in Ferrari
we did in the past, we are doing and what
we will do in the future. Is always to start
from the drivers, because we want to harmss the technology,
whatever they are, in a way that delivery unique emotion
to the driver. This is really important. I mean, we cannot.
(27:02):
I don't like to start from technology. The company does
not start from technology. The company is starting, is putting together,
is starting. Everything starts from the driver.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
That's it. That's that's very important.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
But you also have, I mean, the most net technologically
advanced cars in the world. I was looking at the
pure saying the suspension system is just otherworldly. I mean
it's like nothing else with the spool valve shocks, but
also truly active suspension. Isn't it tough to stay on
(27:34):
the forefront like that?
Speaker 4 (27:35):
And we we call it fast Ferrari Active suspension technology.
It is really unique. I mean I tried the Prosign.
We own some racing track and I can tell you
it's very sporty. I use this car daily and they
have a lot of fun because you really when you
when you corner you, you you feel yourself in a
(27:57):
in a sports car is not something the reason why
I was telling you is not an suv because suv
is bulky, is not at all sporty. And you feel
the weight well in our Prosy despite the fact that
the weight is two point one tone, you don't feel
it all the weight because with the electro mechanical components,
(28:18):
the Fast Ferrari active suspension technology, you don't feel the weight.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
It is very light, I can imagine.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
But I wonder about the difficulties of maintaining that kind
And I know maintaining a Ferrari has never been terribly
inexpensive endeavor, but how many microchips are in each corner
of the suspension. And then you've got the passenger screen
from which he or she can control most of the car.
You know, obviously not driving, but it just seemed like
(28:46):
a lot of tech packed in one car.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
There is a lot of tech here, right, the a
lot of microchips, the Ferrari, the fast. Let's say you
are full of electric components, mechanical component.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
There is a lot of software behind.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
There are chips, there are sensors, there are micro controllers,
there are a power components. But let's say they are
all blended in a way to make sure that the
car is cornering in the right way. You don't lose,
you don't feel the weight. And I would like to
say the following. There are many different kinds of software
in a car. I like to say there are four
(29:19):
classes of software. There is a basic software, like the
software you needed to raise up and down the window.
There is the vehicle dynamic software. There is HMI software,
and there is autonomous drive software. Well, autonomous drive we
don't care too much apart from the one that are
demanded by the regulation. HMI for us is a mirroring
of what is on the radio and mobile phone or
whatever on the screen. So we invest and we develop
(29:42):
software for vehicle dynamics because that's where the people can
feel better and can have the Ferral experience.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
On the one hand, I feel like in my mind
I'm a purist, right, but I'm not a lot. I
don't want to go back to carburetors. I don't want
to have no abs, you know, I need traction control,
especially if I have nine hundred twelve hundred. But in
a sense you have to become somewhat of a technology
company then right, And I mean that makes sense you
(30:19):
come from st Micro, But do you have to hire
coders at Ferrari? Do you need to develop your own
software and house or way?
Speaker 4 (30:26):
When I came in the company in Inferrari three years ago,
I had the opportunity to talk with a lot of
engineers with a different background aerodynamic, mechanical, electronic, digital software.
I was really surprised by the death of know how
that is there. And you understand when you see the
kind of car that the team is able to do,
(30:48):
but really that the amount of know how that is
in this company is really unique. There is a lot
of innovation, There is a lot of dedication, a lot
of sense of belonging, a lot of passion. I feel
daily the passion they put to make something unique all
the time.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I actually want to talk about that. How did you
come to this job? You were telling us earlier that
you when you came in, you hit the book, started
reading everything you could about all the technological innovations that
you would need to deal with. You obviously have a
text savvy background to begin with, but you have to
have had a passion for cars.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
Also.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
It's not like Johnny Elkhon would hire someone who doesn't
care about cars to come and run his you know,
Crown Jewel.
Speaker 5 (31:31):
So what was it. I've been always in love with cars.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
I've been always in love with a product where technology
allow people to leave unique moments to deliver emotion.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
So in those I able to say that.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
I like also to work for companies where there is
a lot of heritage you can build on. So Ferrari
was my dream. It was also a place where you
can put together the past and the future. You put
together the story telling and the technology. I transition to
this world and with the team and all the members,
(32:07):
I'm having a lot of fun and there is only
one problem with Ferrari.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
You know what which one is, which car to choose.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
Which car to choose? Yes, but there is also another one,
the time of flies. I mean I was there three
years and a half ago. It looks like yesterday because
you see, I mean when I get out of the
office in the evening, when you see all these beautiful
cars standing on the road, when you see client coming
to see our car. We see that in the event
(32:34):
when we try the car on the test track, as
you say, you have goosebumps. Yes, I mean I have
the portunity to try with the test drivers different kind
of car on the test track, and it's really incredible
how the car is able to be very unique emotion
to us.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
So what are your favorite? I know it's differ the
next one, okay, but I mean, like I look at
some of the even recent vehicles you've put out and
I'm just blown away, Like the roma is something that
I never would have expected from Ferrari. And it's also
i mean the entry level Ferrari or I don't know
(33:11):
how you describe it in the company's but I think
it's one of the most beautiful vehicles that I've ever seen.
Speaker 5 (33:16):
Our car.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
There are two extreme if you want. One is for
pilot and one is for sport car drivers. We have
different kind of car. We have Drama Spider. We have
the two ninety six GTB and the Git and the Spider.
Also V six we have yeah, v SX hybrid. Yeah,
we have the V eight hybrid that is s F
ninety Now. We have also a special version the XX
(33:38):
Spider and coupe. We have Supercar. We have the puras
I think you know. For us, it's a different Ferrari
for different moments, different Ferrari for different Ferraricti, for different
kind of client.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
It depends what you want to do.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Are there any holes in that? Are there any product
holes where you're like, I think we need a station
wagon or you.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
Know, we need a truck. Now I think we need.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
You know, a four doors? Yeah, I mean is there
anything I think a pickup truck that would be fantastic?
Speaker 4 (34:04):
Okay, Today, as I say, we are working on a
lot of interesting product we Unfortunately you are so kind,
you are very hospital here. Unfortunately I cannot, I mean
we cannot discuss. We're paying too much attention.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Which of these cars means the most to you? I mean,
I imagine the Roma was already in production when you
came on board, but it was the first the Roma.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Okay, when the first car that I saw that we
announced that after I get in the company was the Daytona.
Because I got in the company in September, it was
announcing in November and the team already did all the job,
all the work.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
That was very.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
Important for me because if you want this the first
car we decided together with the team, the name of
the car, I will always remember.
Speaker 5 (34:51):
It's a fantastic name.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I've then on the bank turns of Daytona Raceway, which
is amazing experience in itself.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
I imagine me too.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
I mean, and then if you consider also what happened
over the nineteen sixty seven with the tree Ferrari.
Speaker 5 (35:05):
Yes, that's really your history. That's really good bad.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Yes, not to mention the fact that I'm pretty sure
there's a Daytona in Miami. Vice right, he has a
test Rosa and a Daytona.
Speaker 4 (35:17):
There is a turnabout that was a three sixty five
g TB. Yes, and I remember because that was it
was announced when I was born in nineteen sixty nine.
You know, Ferrari is a lot of cars. And you
know how I remember the year of announcement of those cars.
I associated those cars to people. I know that in
nineteen seventy five, three eight, nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 5 (35:39):
And what what what are you my car? Three eight?
Speaker 2 (35:41):
You associate that with Magnum by sister, your sister, So
people you personally know.
Speaker 4 (35:46):
I associate with people I know because it's easier for
me to remember this way otherwise. I mean, there are
a lot of model I mean the company did in
seventy seven years. We did around the two hundred and
fifty different kind of sports cars, tc. So I had
to find my own way. I still do a lot
of mistake, but I keep improving. So a few months
(36:09):
ago I send a message to the people reporting to me.
To each of them, I send the cars. So I
have one guy in nineteen eighty four this year turned
forty and it's a two eighty eighty g t O.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
Very nice. You know, in this case it's easier. In
this case, it's easier.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
But I have another another colleague in nineteen sixty four
to fifty GT.
Speaker 5 (36:26):
Loso. I remember in.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
This way, also a fantastic product. Do you have any
favorites of the classics. I mean, you have a great
gto presentation on your website, and that's an amazing car
for me, though, the magnum pi Ferrari is what kind
of defines, at least in my brain.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
You know, there are several of them. The first one
I tried when I was here in the US end
of nineties was the f fifty.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
There was so I.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
Will always remember that that experience. But there is also
the two fifty git los and thirty sixty four.
Speaker 5 (36:58):
I like a lot.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
It's a very beautiful car, are of course quite pricey
at this point.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
There is okay, it's not so old, it's not classic
because it's still younger than twenty years. There is the
four to five eight. There is a eight that is
for the pista is great, but that I mean it depends.
This summer. In July, I tried with a colleague the
Testarossa nineteen fifty seven. Wow, beautiful, beautiful, only four gears,
(37:27):
incredible how you can push each gear?
Speaker 5 (37:33):
Of course not you no door to open, you have
to jump in.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
So an incredible history. What about the people that work there,
I mean, you've talked a lot about when we were
having our conversation earlier.
Speaker 5 (37:43):
The competence that you saw.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
You were struck by the competence of the people working there.
But I wonder about also the culture. I mean in
the motor Valley. This is a place where cars are
more important than probably you know, any other place besides Stuttgarden, Detroit, right,
So it's one of the main hotspots for car culture.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
It's true, it's an odd spot, the motor valid There
are a lot of competence over there, and the competents keep growing.
The competents keep accruing over the time because for example,
in motor vality, ill you know, five years ago you
did not want needed to have competence in chemistry, Now
you need to have them. Why because electric car needs
(38:25):
batteries and you need to have these competence. So it's
a place where the people know a lot, but also
they are willing to learn a lot. And I think
this is really important because I think that to be
sustainable as a team in the future, you need to
know a lot, but also you need to be ready
to learn a lot from whoever you from all the
(38:46):
people in the world. So what we did, for example,
in this respect, we created together with University and other
companies laboratory to develop, to understand and to develop the
next generation chemistry for the battery for the cell. So
that's very important because we as a company, we will
keep doing the thermal cars, naturally aspirated, we will do
(39:08):
the eybrid car, and.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
We will do also we will do alls electric car.
Like you brought that up.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
I almost forgot about it because I really couldn't care
much less about EV's. But you're still going to go
ahead with it. You just told us earlier. You're still
looking at releasing it. What a fourth quarter of twenty
twenty five. Even though other supercar makers haven't fared so
well EV's the market seems soft.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
Look don't I don't comment about others because each one
has its own strategy.
Speaker 5 (39:36):
But can you develop a passionate EV I think.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
That this is a you know, it's a big opportunity
for us because it's a challenge, and we like to
take the challenge because the only way for us to
push the limit forward is to take challenge and to
master a unique way. Today, the interpretation we are giving
to our electric car is a our interpretation. So we
(40:02):
believe in the possibility to use this technology to the
unique emotion. We said the three years twenty twenty two,
we said, unveil in Q four twenty five, and we
are on track. We are testing on different tracks, and
you have to be able to wait still a few quarters.
Speaker 5 (40:19):
I will.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
But I mean I remember hearing stories and these may
have been unfounded rumors that aren't true, that when Ferrari
engineers first had to use turbo chargers, they were very
unhappy about bringing and now and now and now we
prize those vehicles, right, But I wonder can you do
that again with evs? I mean, do your engineers think
that it's capable of having a soul?
Speaker 4 (40:40):
And Matt, I think that thinking about what's happening in
the world in general, about the main kind, there are
two things that scared people. One the fear of the
new and to the fear of the different, of the diverse.
I mean, if you see no over the course of
his story. So it's normally that people are scared about
(41:02):
the new. I like to say that innovation is not
democratic in the sense that not all the people see
the innovation, because if all the people would see the innovation,
then it we call it the production. I think we
see the opportunity to use also the electric and that
like to say electric engine not to motors, just to
feel it closer to the thermal engine in a unique way.
(41:24):
I think it's an interesting challenge. We are priest at
the stage of development where we are. We have to
go through the till the end and we will deliver
this to you know, we will make another unique Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Okay, I'm looking forward to that. We have much time left.
But I want to ask again, going back to the culture.
You've only been there for three and a half years,
but Prirari has such a storied past, with such strong leaders.
What kind of imprint do you want to leave on
the culture? What is the unique selling point that you
bring to Ferrari and that you hope to leave with Ferrari.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
That's a good point, and I think that what I
what I want to leave to the company is to
make sure that there is empowerment at all level in
the company. I want all the level in the company
to be empowered. I want all the level to contribute
to the innovation, because it's fundamental that today and in
the future the organization work more than not so much
(42:23):
in a hierarchical mode, but a more measured way, interconnected way.
And if I think also the progress we are doing
for example and sustainability, it's something that is happening because
the blue collars, together with the white collars, are bringing
up some new ideas. I think it's fundamental today with
all the tools we have, you know what'sapp email, we
(42:45):
can cause AI, but national intelligence is also important. It
will always be important because the emotional intelligence. The AI
will never have the emotional intelligence Okay, yeah, it's like
to think when you think about a man is ahead,
but there's also the gat okay, yeah, is only a
man with big brain, but there is also a gut
(43:07):
feeling that makes the difference. So what I want to say,
I would I would like to leave a company that
there's a culture that is more suitable for the challenge
that the company will live in the future. I am
very pleased we are doing very good progress in this direction.
Many others will do together.
Speaker 3 (43:24):
Well.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
It's a noble cause. And I really appreciate you sitting
down with us.
Speaker 5 (43:27):
Thank you, Matt, thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
That was so great. I really regret that I wasn't
able to make that interview map, but you did great obviously.
I always learn a lot when I listen. It's just
so good to hear from the horse's mouth straight from Italy.
You know what's going on for sure.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
For sure, I will say they missed you.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
The whole PR team was like, we're so excited to
see Hannah, and then when I got to the to
the conference room, they were like, where's Hannah.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
You got to keep them wanting more.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Exactly exactly, so when you go and see them at
Villa Deeste or whatever, they'll be like super happy to
see your Yeah, it was good fun to talk to him,
and it's always fun to dream about Ferraris. I got
to spend a lot of time on the website digging
into it before he came in because I wanted to
be prepared. And you know, it's funny the website it
is not to the same level as the suspension system
(44:20):
of the puro saying and I've.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
Noticed you a little trouble. It's just not quite there.
And of course that's not their focus, right because it
should be that.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
I doubt their main customers are spending time configuring the
cars on This is.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
A thing with like every automaker. The websites are trash
they take. Maybe they're two, maybe they're they're trying to
overcomplicate it, because it does always seem like they're constantly spooling.
They take forever to low. They're hard to navigate. You know,
you can't it doesn't give you what you need right away.
This seems to be kind of a thing with automakers.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
They're not quite as good as they could be, even
like Porstia probably has one of the most detailed configurators
and then one of the deepest, right because you can
be filming the components that you put on the car,
but it's just not quite there. You know, you break
off from the regular website into like a child window.
(45:18):
And yeah, I mean Doucatti has always had problems. Uh,
I'm just thinking of the ones I hit up a lot.
I like Chevy has a pretty good one Ford, but
they're just not as good as they could be.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
You know, Yeah, I know, I I it's tough when
you're a journalist and you're trying to sort of find information,
and that's when I just start emailing prs because half
the time, too, what the PR tells me is different
than what's on the website. And you know, sometimes they're
not aware that they're sending conflicting messages.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
So all right, I've got to head to a dinner,
and you've got your I.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Was gonna I was gonna ask if you've got any
if you've had any amazing meals yet or has ever I've.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Had and I've had.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
I had a truly amazing meal, like I'm talking Michelin
level at a place called Comone Hamone so like their
version of Ferrari La Ferrari su right here in the
old city of Valencia. If you if you come here,
I highly recommend checking out this restaurant. Like it's a
great couples night for two that.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
I mean amazing.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
I had the flaw which was insane in the waveless rotost,
which is a very simple dish, but they made it
like at a culinary height that I wouldn't have expected.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
So yeah, amazing.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
All right, cool, Well listen, you have a great trip.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
And uh they hid in magnuson Willow and wait, is
there a new one another puppy?
Speaker 3 (46:44):
Oh yeah, and the puppy the new one.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
There's no new one yet, but you know, you never
know of.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
These, Okay, okay, I keep I keep expecting that, and
I'll see you here at same time, same place next
Week's right.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
I'm Matt Miller, and I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is
Bloomberg
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. I'm Matt Miller and
I'm Hannah Elliott and this is Hot Pursuit.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
And I guess it's already like a holiday edition too,
because I'm in Valencia in Spain.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
For at least Navidad.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Thank you. Uh. It's seventy degrees out amazing, which.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Even for Valencia is quite warm. But you're not knocked
off on holiday yet.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Where do you go after Friday?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I'm out, I'm out. We're gonna we're going to take
a journey with the dog over the river and through
the woods to grandmother's house. We go our little pup's
first car ride, like long, long journey, and I'm I'm
very excited. She's very excited.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Oh you're gonna how long? How long is the drive?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Well, the drives from La to Denver, so that's it's
about one thousand miles. You could do it in a day,
but I think we're gonna break it up and stop
somewhere around Grand Junction, nice way. So yeah, that'll be fun.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I'm very jealous of that. I love a long drive.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, I'll keep you posted. We're i mean, we're checking
the what the weather is, is the the one thing
to really be careful of because it can really catch
you out. And I actually grew up in Oregon driving
over the Cascades a lot in the winter, so I
am aware that if you're not prepared, can really catch
you out.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Is there a specific route that you're gonna take? What's
the route you take?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I haven't even got that far into planning.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
So there's nothing.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
So there's not like an I'm sure there is a
known route. I've never done this drive before. We've never
done it, so I'll have to get back to you
on that.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
No, I mean I always think of Ohio, New York
because I grew up in Columbus, New York, and so
my and my and also so we've always had a
place in New York in Ohio. So my whole life,
I've probably averaged like two or three trips round trips
a year. So you know, if I ask somebody, are
you going to go eighty or seventy six, you know
that they know when I'm talking about it.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yes, we need to discuss this mustache that has mysteriously
appeared when you cross international waters. A minute you get
out of the country. Are you even coming back.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I mean, I am coming back and I probably won't
have this kind of must dash when I go back
on TV for Bloomberg.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
But you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Everyone always questions why I have this? What if I
just want to have a mustache that?
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah. It Also I feel like it's your international persona.
I mean, you can be whoever you want to be
in Spain.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
True, it makes me much more American over here.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Also, I feel like you'd really fit in with law
enforcement and first responder teams, know, exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Like the fire Department, respectable people even in America. With
full on mustache. I don't see why I should not
be able to wear one. By the way, I've been
doing a lot of thinking about police lately. Police in
Boston ride Giant Harley Davidson Roade Kings and they had
their own special hic that's their fleet. Yeah it is
(03:16):
because I've done I've done a bunch of Fourth of
July events where we had super fancy police escorts to
and from the venue. And these guys all have big
fat mustaches like this, and they control those bikes as
if it were second nature. And they're you know, eight
hundred and fifty or nine hundred pound motorcycles. That is
(03:38):
a lot. I have seen, by the way, firsthand the
work of tariff here in Spain, because I went to
the Harley Davidson dealership to look at a fat Bob. Now,
in the US they stopped production of them, or stop
sales with them last year, but they were eighteen nine
and here in Spain in dollars, and here in Spain
they're twenty four to nine in Europe, so like closer
(04:02):
to thirty grand and dollars, So basically, you know, fifty
percent more expensive than they are in America.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Wow, that's what crazy, right?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Yeah, and yet the cops have them. They must be
getting some fret deal.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I'm sure they get a fleet deal in the US,
buy in bulk, it's not It's not a.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Great time for Harley in terms of sales either, so
probably fewer and fewer police departments are buying them, but
definitely in Boston they are.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Okay, this is good info, great to know.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I also thought of some buid cars here, So Chinese
electric cars.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Oh about the Wow, how did they look?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
They looked fine?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I mean they looked no worse than the typical sort
of Toyota or Honda Oh my goodness, we have to
talk about Honda as well. Yeah, Honda and Nithan getting
to get other as the third largest car maker. Not
you know, definite yet, but it does seem like it's
gonna happen, right, just shows the danger of Chinese competition.
(05:10):
Like buyd they can't compete anymore in the world's largest
car market, and they're gonna have to. I mean, how
long have those two been standalone brands? And come, I
mean I guess Nthan was part of Renault, but spend
decades and decades and decades.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah. So this is the news that Honda and Nissan
are exploring a merger that would create a real singular
rival to Toyota in Japan and would better position the
company to face challenges from the world and also from Tesla.
And I think this news is really, from what I'm
reading and hearing, has caused shares in Nissan at least
(05:49):
to searge.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Absolutely sure, the biggest jump ever come on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I mean yeah again, Like, I don't think the influence
of China in twenty twenty five and beyond can be overstated.
And this is another.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Expiple agreed one hundred percent because even though, so I
cover US markets as my day job, and in terms
of markets, the influence of China has waned substantially, but
in terms of the car industry, it is still the
world's biggest car market and growing at a faster pace.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah. The only difference is now it's realized it doesn't
need the European and American automakers. It can actually source
its own car market and we'll lean on the scales
if it needs to to make sure.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
That happens exactly. And it's a huge threat.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
So, I mean, it's not like Nissan was doing very
well anyway. They make about the same amount of cars
as Honda, and yet Honda has the market cap four
times larger than Nissan, so a real discount had been applied.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
But did you actually get inside any of these BYD
cars you've seen, because I'm so curious about Everyone says
the fit and finish and the fabrication is really good quality,
which is the whole point. It's not that old idea
of what it means to be made in China. It's
actually very well made.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
True.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I haven't gotten inside of any of them yet so far.
I've just seen them, you know, parked in the garage
under the central market.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
But can you please I've.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Watched the breakdown videos of them, you know, and they
look pretty fantastic. I've heard from some analysts like Nicolas
over at Data Track.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
He did a trip to check out the bid cars.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
He said, they're plastic e, but there's still decent competitors,
especially at that price point. And guess what, so are
all other cars at that price point plastic e?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Even good cars are plastic Yeah, you know what?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
And that's so interesting because Cox Automotive has their annual
recap call and then forecasting for twenty twenty five, and basically,
I mean one of the takeaways was that affordability sells
in the market today period. And you know, of course
we've got high interest rates in high prices that are
are affecting retail purchases and things are more expensive than ever,
(08:07):
so affordability cells that was kind of there.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I agree, it's kind of like.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
A duh, but apparently more than ever going into twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Well, you know, Bloomberg News you may have seen a
few weeks ago, did a great story about how the
high price of new cars is driving even wealthy people
to abandon the new car market and look at used cars.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
We interviewed I think a doctor in West.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Palm Beach who was like yo, I used to buy
a nu Mercedes or at least a Numercedes every two years,
and now the price has doubled, So I'm going to
look at the used market. It's it's the price is
really that are the big problem. They've just pushed so
many people out. And once you're once, you're not gonna
spend the money on something that the heart wants. Once
(08:54):
you start thinking about something that you know you need
or the wallet has to then and you no longer
care about paying a mid range price. So it's either
you get something that you really want, you send for it,
or you say no, I'll pay eleven thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Completely commute, right, yeah, completely completely. Another interesting thing that
Cocks shared to that point was that subcompike SUVs and
compact cars had the largest market shares in twenty twenty four,
and mid size SUVs and full size pickups had the
biggest loss. Again, to your point, like people are doubt,
(09:34):
they're they're gravitating smaller, and they're gravitating toward affordability.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
For sure. In America, a full size pickup is a
luxury vehicle.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Now completely completely like I was really, you know, on
my end of your car list, we included, which we
discussed on your TV show, Uh, the Ford F two
point fifty King Ranch which starts at like seventy five
thousand dollars, which was a to me seemed oh wow,
got one under one hundred thousand.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yes, I think for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
When when you say that price, I thought really for
the diesel, like, if I got an F two fifty
King r Ants with the big diesel motor, I would
expect to pay at least ninety grand I mean.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, that price doesn't include all the add ons and
extras we have. That's the qualifier. That's you know, like
the listed MSRP. I have a feeling if you go
to the automaker you might be suckered into adding some
things to that.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
But by the way, we didn't, so that was on
my TV show, but we didn't talk about your list yet.
So well that ends on the big one. Yeah, it
is a great segue. So we'll end on that, but
I want to touch on a few others. Sure, because
I saw, I know, the Fiat Chinko.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
One hundred what do you call it, Well, I call
it the five hundred D but chinkinta yeah that too.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I know that was on your list and we both
I loved that car. Also, I drove the five hundred,
the little electric Fiat five hundred in red, and I
thought it was amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
That goes to your point of if you're not going
to have a huge expense of something, just go the
opposite direction and get like the most affordable thing.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Well, to me, even that's a little bit luxurious because
it was over thirty grand.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Right, yes, yeah, I think thirty five.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
For a compact electric car. I mean that seems a
little much if I'm trying to save money. I'm looking
for something used at like twenty, right, So I think
it's a it is deserving of a sort of a
slightly luxurious or let's say, premium, you know, price, because
it's the design is beautiful, the paint was so nice,
(11:42):
the interior is nicely laid out, it was fun to drive,
its zippy.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
To me, that little car fell into the category of
it's something that feels special. And this is an aspect
of luxury that has nothing to do with price and
everything to do with how it makes you feel, and
the story behind it, and to me, with this Italian
heritage behind it, and just the attention to detail, like
(12:10):
you said, like it did look extremely sharp in the
liveries that they're offering. It just feels special. It has
nothing to do with the price necessarily, although yeah, thirty
six thousand dollars is nothing.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Well, so that's the thing it is.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I thought the price tag was to me, that's a
lot of money, right, because I could be getting two
great motorcycles for that. But then I saw a story
in Axios that says a Fiat dealership in Colorado is
offering a twenty twenty four Fiat five hundred E for
zero dollars per month and no down payment.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
What's the catch.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
That's what I'm looking for. You get ten thousand miles
a year. I'm reading the Axios story. Ten thousand miles
a year for free. You have to pay taxes totaling
thirteen hundred plus regiment registration fees of three ninety five.
You have to pay a disposition fee at the end
of the lease. Of the twenty seven months lease. I
don't know what it is, but I think the idea
(13:13):
is they just want the credits.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Interesting, they just want the sort of EPA credit.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, so I guess at the end you pay the
disposition fee is fairly substantial. It's like seventeen thousand, okay,
but still for twenty seven months and nothing up front.
Like if you want a car now and you only
have thirteen well, let's say fifteen ninety five in cash,
(13:43):
you can pay nothing for the next two years and
three months.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
This is in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yeah, okay, all right, let's get to the big Cahuna.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Car of the year.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Car of the year. Anyone who's really followed along won't
be surprised. It's the twelve cylinder Ferrari, the Ferrari Dodchi Chilindre.
I still am probably gonna get killed for saying it
like that, but.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I think Americans are safe just calling it the twelve cylinder,
right if you.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
If you walk into your Ferrari dealer.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
And you and they know you, and you know them,
and you're there to pick up you say, hey, I'm
here to pick up my twelve fells.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Also, yeah, but also there are many there are multiple
twelve cylinder Ferraris. So it is a little confusing. I mean,
admittedly so, and I do think Ferrari laughs. I think
this is their inside joke of if you can't speak
the language, then maybe you shouldn't buy the car. You know,
I might have This feels very wink in a nod,
(14:43):
But at any rate, I love this car so much
because it's unusual and it has a point of view
and a personality in a sea of appliances. Yes, it's expensive,
it's almost. It's four hundred and fifty nine thousand dollars starting.
It's a now vitually aspirated V twelve. It looks kind
(15:05):
of like a Ferrari Daytona at the front. It's got
some interesting elements in the rear, like just almost it's
I don't want to call it a hatchback, but it's
It kind of looks like a Ferrari FF, which I
know we all love and underrated. I just like it.
It's weird. The interior is very similar and just like
(15:27):
the Ferrari Roma, another Ferrari that I love. It's got
a good combination of screens and actual buttons and knobs.
Of course, it drives beautifully. It's so fast. Zero to
sixty two is two point nine seconds. I just love it.
It's got a personality. It's cool, and I think it's
(15:47):
going to age really beautifully too.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I don't think you're wrong. I definitely agree with you.
I think there's some weirdness about it. It's weird, yeah,
which which is cool because, let's face it, if you
just want a beautiful, elegant, you know, pen and Farina
penned Ferrari twelve cylinder, there are many out there to
(16:11):
choose from.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
They've already done that.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You know. They have to push the boundaries a little
bit because you know, I can go buy a five
point fifty Maronello if I want a gated shifter, if
I want a new one, I can get an a
twelve super Fast if I have the money, obviously, and
if you.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Have all those, you want something that looks a little
bit different.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, And it's.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Different but same, same, it's very similar. It's in the
in the same.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
When you look at it, you know it's a Ferrari,
but you also know, oh, it's that Ferrari, like, oh,
you know it's that one. You know it's obviously a Ferrari,
but it's also a very specific Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
So we're gonna play the interview of Benedette Opina, the
CEO Ferrari, you dropped by the office, and I have
all of these like poor person questions, why don't you
make a stick shift? You know, why all the computers?
Why are you downsizing to a V six for the
supercar for the F eighty And what I realized when
I spoke with him is something that's obvious and that
(17:25):
shows up in the comments every time.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
It's not for me.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I'm not their target market. You know, frankly, very few
of our listeners are going to be their target market.
I mean, yes, you quoted that four hundred whatever, but
the truth is you're not gonna get it unless you've
already bought like three or four other five hundred thousand
dollars Ferraris. So it's a totally different group of people
who genuinely give zero f about having a stick shift
(17:52):
or the purest you know, automotive feeling. They want the
newest thing that's closest to F one technology that they
can get that screams, I'm so rich that I don't
need to be able to.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Pronounce the name of the car I bought, you know.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Ah, yes, And you know, of course, the rest of
us love to dream and That's part of the beauty
of cars and sharing cars, because you still we still
feel like we can almost touch it, and we can
imagine what color we would get if we were getting one,
and we can imagine how we would spect the interior.
And I have to say, I don't think every person
(18:32):
who buys a Ferrari is the type of person that
you describe.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
I you know, now the newest Twelves Billainder from the dealer, right.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
No, Look, there are plenty of Ferrari owners who I've
spoken with, justin in reporting, who are truly nice, humble
people who love the cars because they are really sublime
to drive, and they're really beautiful, and who happened to
think that beauty beauty for its own sake is worth
a lot. And I think there have been some other
(19:02):
cars that we've discussed that are like almost deliberately ugly
or jarring, and this is the opposite of that. This
is like beauty is as important as everything else that
goes into making a car, which I'm seeing less and
less of. So yeah, obviously there are some people who
just buy it so they can show off, but not
(19:22):
everyone who buys a Ferrari is like that.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
For sure, No, there are people who appreciate the quality
and the technology.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
I'm just saying for the MEAs of the world.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I look at the puro sing whatever you call it,
the purosangua, right, yeah, and you need like a Google
developed quantum computer to be able to run each corner
of the suspension, which is insane.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Just give me coil over shocks, you know. So I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Anyway, let's get into the interview here. As Benedetto Vinya,
the CEO of Ferrari, Ferrari had it turns out a
great season. I mean, fantastic improvement. You almost won the
Constructors Championship. You're only fourteen points off. What did you think?
Speaker 4 (20:04):
I think that the team did a great job. This
year has been, as you said, fantastic year. Unfortunately we
were not the first one, but I congratulated really with
all the team, from Fred, the all the mechanics engineers,
the two pilot. I think this is a good launch
pedals for next year. I think that really the team
(20:25):
to serve a big thank you gratzia from all the
people from the fan, from the colleague.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
So I'm very very happy.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
I mean, it's you know, in my mind, Ferrari is
more connected to Formula One than pretty much any other brand.
And I grew up with Michael Schumacher and the Tifosi,
I mean total domination. It was amazing. And now you
have the chance to hire, or you have hired, you
have the chance to race with someone else who people
(20:55):
think may be the greatest driver of all time. What
are you looking forward to doing in twenty twenty five
with Lewis Hamilton.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
We are looking for Louis to join our team. We
are looking for another great season. We will do our
best to make sure that, let's say we achieve we
are competitive. I think it's important in this sport, like
in all the sport, to be competitive and to be
always to give the best. What is important in this sport,
(21:21):
and this is the sense of our brand, is to
keep alive, the will to progress, the will to make
always something better. I think Lewis will contribute will help us.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I mean you are competitive already, you showed this year
and he is obvious an incredibly skilled driver.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
But I think you know, a lot.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Of people feel that either Ferrari was selling cars to
race or racing to sell cars. And when we were
just talking to you, and I just sat in a
conference room and had an off record conversation.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
For a little bit.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
I think you highlighted the important sort of symbiotic relationship
between racing and business. It's not one or the other,
not one for the other, but they both really help
each other.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
The same biosis, as you say, is very important. Matt.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
I think, as I told you, there are three important
message and values for the racing team for the company overall.
One is all the technology innovation we do on the
track that we can bring on the road. Two, it
gives us a commercial platform. It is interesting for mini
sponsors many players that share the same values. And three,
(22:25):
it is a constant reminder that the only way for
a company to business stadium well in the long term
is this continuous will to progress and aving a sport
team embedded in the company. I think it's a big
asset because really it remembers all of us that one
weekend you went in that the one may you may lose,
but you never lose you always learn. That's very important.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I mean, I think it's fascinating, a fascinating way to
think about it. And also you mentioned the will to progress,
and I'm an old guy the kind who's stuck in
the past. I was really surprised when you came out
with the eighty that had a V six, because I
have thought, you know, a Ferrari supercar has to have
a V twelve or a turbo charged V eight. You know,
(23:10):
I'm from the days of the F forty when I
was in high school. That was the poster you know
we had on.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
Eh turbo, Yeah, eh turbo exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
And then I looked on your website and I saw
welcome to the era of V six. I think it
was on the two ninety six if you click internet.
Is that directly derived from Formula one racing? Is that
from the power plant on the track? That's what you
want in your most important supercoar.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
I would like to tell you that today if you
take a Lemon Iper car, if you take F one,
they are all V six hybrid.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
And when you think about the pinnacle of the technology,
when you want to do something that is pushing the limit,
well you need to stick to something that is the
living digis performances, and V six hybrid is one of those.
Just consider that our thermal engine in that car is
more than three hundred or spower per liter, and then
on top of the three leaders you ad the additional
(24:03):
three hundred terminal let's say.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
Electric horse power.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
So I think you have to pick always the best
technology for the supercar, because the supercar is epitome of
the best let's say car you can make with technology
you have available at that time.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
You also, though, pay homage to your heritage with design cues.
I mean, in the twelve cylinder car, I can see
the Daytona very clearly, and the SUV, the puro saying.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
No, no, no, no no. The suv, Matt, we don't make suv.
We suv is a sport utility.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Okay, fair, I'm just trying to avoid an attempt at
pronouncing the Italian name because I know I'm going to
butcher heuro sanguine.
Speaker 5 (24:45):
I mean, you still have.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
The naturally aspirated V twelve of.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
The past, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Is it tough to on the one hand always be
reaching forward, you know, a technology and progress, and on
the other hand, you have to pay homage to such
an important, such an iconic past.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
That's the beauty of Ferrari.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
That's the beauty of a luxury company as Ferrari, that
is putting together the past and the future. That is
putting together the technology for the sake of delivering unique
emotion to our client. Because when you have the opportunity
to work for a company as Ferrari, everyone from first
to lust can put together the two dimensions the past
in the future. I like to say, in this way,
(25:24):
we all have two eyes. Okay, with one eye we
look at the past. With one eye we look at
the future, and then we have the brain that is
putting them together. That's what we do. Everyone in Ferrari
is doing it this way. It's not good when you
look only to the past. It's not good. Only when
you look, let's say, only to the futures. To look
at both dimensions and put them together. And that's what
(25:44):
we do.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I always wonder, and I'm sure everyone asks you. I
know Hannah has said. She asked, already are we ever
going to see a manual transmission in a Ferrari again?
Because I had the opportunity to drive a listener's car.
He has a three P fifty five and with the
gated shifter einety seven, I mean like goosebumps. I had
(26:06):
the hair standing up on the back of my neck
and just you know I wasn't perfect at doing my shifts,
but I thought, if I had this car, I would
spend every day practicing like it's such an amazing feeling,
the sound, And of course it's not the fastest sports
car in the world, it's probably no longer the best
handling sports car. But it was just the involvement and
(26:27):
the gratification that I got from hitting it right was
an amazing experience. Do we ever get that again?
Speaker 5 (26:33):
Look, one point that we do with Ferrari, we never
disclosed what's gonna be the future.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
It's part of this ability, it's part of the secrecy
we keep. But I can't tell you that in Ferrari
we did in the past, we are doing and what
we will do in the future. Is always to start
from the drivers, because we want to harmss the technology,
whatever they are, in a way that delivery unique emotion
to the driver. This is really important. I mean, we cannot.
(27:02):
I don't like to start from technology. The company does
not start from technology. The company is starting, is putting together,
is starting. Everything starts from the driver.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
That's it. That's that's very important.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
But you also have, I mean, the most net technologically
advanced cars in the world. I was looking at the
pure saying the suspension system is just otherworldly. I mean
it's like nothing else with the spool valve shocks, but
also truly active suspension. Isn't it tough to stay on
(27:34):
the forefront like that?
Speaker 4 (27:35):
And we we call it fast Ferrari Active suspension technology.
It is really unique. I mean I tried the Prosign.
We own some racing track and I can tell you
it's very sporty. I use this car daily and they
have a lot of fun because you really when you
when you corner you, you you feel yourself in a
(27:57):
in a sports car is not something the reason why
I was telling you is not an suv because suv
is bulky, is not at all sporty. And you feel
the weight well in our Prosy despite the fact that
the weight is two point one tone, you don't feel
it all the weight because with the electro mechanical components,
(28:18):
the Fast Ferrari active suspension technology, you don't feel the weight.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
It is very light, I can imagine.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
But I wonder about the difficulties of maintaining that kind
And I know maintaining a Ferrari has never been terribly
inexpensive endeavor, but how many microchips are in each corner
of the suspension. And then you've got the passenger screen
from which he or she can control most of the car.
You know, obviously not driving, but it just seemed like
(28:46):
a lot of tech packed in one car.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
There is a lot of tech here, right, the a
lot of microchips, the Ferrari, the fast. Let's say you
are full of electric components, mechanical component.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
There is a lot of software behind.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
There are chips, there are sensors, there are micro controllers,
there are a power components. But let's say they are
all blended in a way to make sure that the
car is cornering in the right way. You don't lose,
you don't feel the weight. And I would like to
say the following. There are many different kinds of software
in a car. I like to say there are four
(29:19):
classes of software. There is a basic software, like the
software you needed to raise up and down the window.
There is the vehicle dynamic software. There is HMI software,
and there is autonomous drive software. Well, autonomous drive we
don't care too much apart from the one that are
demanded by the regulation. HMI for us is a mirroring
of what is on the radio and mobile phone or
whatever on the screen. So we invest and we develop
(29:42):
software for vehicle dynamics because that's where the people can
feel better and can have the Ferral experience.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
On the one hand, I feel like in my mind
I'm a purist, right, but I'm not a lot. I
don't want to go back to carburetors. I don't want
to have no abs, you know, I need traction control,
especially if I have nine hundred twelve hundred. But in
a sense you have to become somewhat of a technology
company then right, And I mean that makes sense you
(30:19):
come from st Micro, But do you have to hire
coders at Ferrari? Do you need to develop your own
software and house or way?
Speaker 4 (30:26):
When I came in the company in Inferrari three years ago,
I had the opportunity to talk with a lot of
engineers with a different background aerodynamic, mechanical, electronic, digital software.
I was really surprised by the death of know how
that is there. And you understand when you see the
kind of car that the team is able to do,
(30:48):
but really that the amount of know how that is
in this company is really unique. There is a lot
of innovation, There is a lot of dedication, a lot
of sense of belonging, a lot of passion. I feel
daily the passion they put to make something unique all
the time.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
I actually want to talk about that. How did you
come to this job? You were telling us earlier that
you when you came in, you hit the book, started
reading everything you could about all the technological innovations that
you would need to deal with. You obviously have a
text savvy background to begin with, but you have to
have had a passion for cars.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
Also.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
It's not like Johnny Elkhon would hire someone who doesn't
care about cars to come and run his you know,
Crown Jewel.
Speaker 5 (31:31):
So what was it. I've been always in love with cars.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
I've been always in love with a product where technology
allow people to leave unique moments to deliver emotion.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
So in those I able to say that.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
I like also to work for companies where there is
a lot of heritage you can build on. So Ferrari
was my dream. It was also a place where you
can put together the past and the future. You put
together the story telling and the technology. I transition to
this world and with the team and all the members,
(32:07):
I'm having a lot of fun and there is only
one problem with Ferrari.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
You know what which one is, which car to choose.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
Which car to choose? Yes, but there is also another one,
the time of flies. I mean I was there three
years and a half ago. It looks like yesterday because
you see, I mean when I get out of the
office in the evening, when you see all these beautiful
cars standing on the road, when you see client coming
to see our car. We see that in the event
(32:34):
when we try the car on the test track, as
you say, you have goosebumps. Yes, I mean I have
the portunity to try with the test drivers different kind
of car on the test track, and it's really incredible
how the car is able to be very unique emotion
to us.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
So what are your favorite? I know it's differ the
next one, okay, but I mean, like I look at
some of the even recent vehicles you've put out and
I'm just blown away, Like the roma is something that
I never would have expected from Ferrari. And it's also
i mean the entry level Ferrari or I don't know
(33:11):
how you describe it in the company's but I think
it's one of the most beautiful vehicles that I've ever seen.
Speaker 5 (33:16):
Our car.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
There are two extreme if you want. One is for
pilot and one is for sport car drivers. We have
different kind of car. We have Drama Spider. We have
the two ninety six GTB and the Git and the Spider.
Also V six we have yeah, v SX hybrid. Yeah,
we have the V eight hybrid that is s F
ninety Now. We have also a special version the XX
(33:38):
Spider and coupe. We have Supercar. We have the puras
I think you know. For us, it's a different Ferrari
for different moments, different Ferrari for different Ferraricti, for different
kind of client.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
It depends what you want to do.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Are there any holes in that? Are there any product
holes where you're like, I think we need a station
wagon or you.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
Know, we need a truck. Now I think we need.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
You know, a four doors? Yeah, I mean is there
anything I think a pickup truck that would be fantastic?
Speaker 4 (34:04):
Okay, Today, as I say, we are working on a
lot of interesting product we Unfortunately you are so kind,
you are very hospital here. Unfortunately I cannot, I mean
we cannot discuss. We're paying too much attention.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Which of these cars means the most to you? I mean,
I imagine the Roma was already in production when you
came on board, but it was the first the Roma.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Okay, when the first car that I saw that we
announced that after I get in the company was the Daytona.
Because I got in the company in September, it was
announcing in November and the team already did all the job,
all the work.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
That was very.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
Important for me because if you want this the first
car we decided together with the team, the name of
the car, I will always remember.
Speaker 5 (34:51):
It's a fantastic name.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I've then on the bank turns of Daytona Raceway, which
is amazing experience in itself.
Speaker 5 (34:59):
I imagine me too.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
I mean, and then if you consider also what happened
over the nineteen sixty seven with the tree Ferrari.
Speaker 5 (35:05):
Yes, that's really your history. That's really good bad.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Yes, not to mention the fact that I'm pretty sure
there's a Daytona in Miami. Vice right, he has a
test Rosa and a Daytona.
Speaker 4 (35:17):
There is a turnabout that was a three sixty five
g TB. Yes, and I remember because that was it
was announced when I was born in nineteen sixty nine.
You know, Ferrari is a lot of cars. And you
know how I remember the year of announcement of those cars.
I associated those cars to people. I know that in
nineteen seventy five, three eight, nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 5 (35:39):
And what what what are you my car? Three eight?
Speaker 2 (35:41):
You associate that with Magnum by sister, your sister, So
people you personally know.
Speaker 4 (35:46):
I associate with people I know because it's easier for
me to remember this way otherwise. I mean, there are
a lot of model I mean the company did in
seventy seven years. We did around the two hundred and
fifty different kind of sports cars, tc. So I had
to find my own way. I still do a lot
of mistake, but I keep improving. So a few months
(36:09):
ago I send a message to the people reporting to me.
To each of them, I send the cars. So I
have one guy in nineteen eighty four this year turned
forty and it's a two eighty eighty g t O.
Speaker 5 (36:19):
Very nice. You know, in this case it's easier. In
this case, it's easier.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
But I have another another colleague in nineteen sixty four
to fifty GT.
Speaker 5 (36:26):
Loso. I remember in.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
This way, also a fantastic product. Do you have any
favorites of the classics. I mean, you have a great
gto presentation on your website, and that's an amazing car
for me, though, the magnum pi Ferrari is what kind
of defines, at least in my brain.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
You know, there are several of them. The first one
I tried when I was here in the US end
of nineties was the f fifty.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
There was so I.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
Will always remember that that experience. But there is also
the two fifty git los and thirty sixty four.
Speaker 5 (36:58):
I like a lot.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
It's a very beautiful car, are of course quite pricey
at this point.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
There is okay, it's not so old, it's not classic
because it's still younger than twenty years. There is the
four to five eight. There is a eight that is
for the pista is great, but that I mean it depends.
This summer. In July, I tried with a colleague the
Testarossa nineteen fifty seven. Wow, beautiful, beautiful, only four gears,
(37:27):
incredible how you can push each gear?
Speaker 5 (37:33):
Of course not you no door to open, you have
to jump in.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
So an incredible history. What about the people that work there,
I mean, you've talked a lot about when we were
having our conversation earlier.
Speaker 5 (37:43):
The competence that you saw.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
You were struck by the competence of the people working there.
But I wonder about also the culture. I mean in
the motor Valley. This is a place where cars are
more important than probably you know, any other place besides Stuttgarden, Detroit, right,
So it's one of the main hotspots for car culture.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
It's true, it's an odd spot, the motor valid There
are a lot of competence over there, and the competents keep growing.
The competents keep accruing over the time because for example,
in motor vality, ill you know, five years ago you
did not want needed to have competence in chemistry, Now
you need to have them. Why because electric car needs
(38:25):
batteries and you need to have these competence. So it's
a place where the people know a lot, but also
they are willing to learn a lot. And I think
this is really important because I think that to be
sustainable as a team in the future, you need to
know a lot, but also you need to be ready
to learn a lot from whoever you from all the
(38:46):
people in the world. So what we did, for example,
in this respect, we created together with University and other
companies laboratory to develop, to understand and to develop the
next generation chemistry for the battery for the cell. So
that's very important because we as a company, we will
keep doing the thermal cars, naturally aspirated, we will do
(39:08):
the eybrid car, and.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
We will do also we will do alls electric car.
Like you brought that up.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
I almost forgot about it because I really couldn't care
much less about EV's. But you're still going to go
ahead with it. You just told us earlier. You're still
looking at releasing it. What a fourth quarter of twenty
twenty five. Even though other supercar makers haven't fared so
well EV's the market seems soft.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
Look don't I don't comment about others because each one
has its own strategy.
Speaker 5 (39:36):
But can you develop a passionate EV I think.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
That this is a you know, it's a big opportunity
for us because it's a challenge, and we like to
take the challenge because the only way for us to
push the limit forward is to take challenge and to
master a unique way. Today, the interpretation we are giving
to our electric car is a our interpretation. So we
(40:02):
believe in the possibility to use this technology to the
unique emotion. We said the three years twenty twenty two,
we said, unveil in Q four twenty five, and we
are on track. We are testing on different tracks, and
you have to be able to wait still a few quarters.
Speaker 5 (40:19):
I will.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
But I mean I remember hearing stories and these may
have been unfounded rumors that aren't true, that when Ferrari
engineers first had to use turbo chargers, they were very
unhappy about bringing and now and now and now we
prize those vehicles, right, But I wonder can you do
that again with evs? I mean, do your engineers think
that it's capable of having a soul?
Speaker 4 (40:40):
And Matt, I think that thinking about what's happening in
the world in general, about the main kind, there are
two things that scared people. One the fear of the
new and to the fear of the different, of the diverse.
I mean, if you see no over the course of
his story. So it's normally that people are scared about
(41:02):
the new. I like to say that innovation is not
democratic in the sense that not all the people see
the innovation, because if all the people would see the innovation,
then it we call it the production. I think we
see the opportunity to use also the electric and that
like to say electric engine not to motors, just to
feel it closer to the thermal engine in a unique way.
(41:24):
I think it's an interesting challenge. We are priest at
the stage of development where we are. We have to
go through the till the end and we will deliver
this to you know, we will make another unique Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Okay, I'm looking forward to that. We have much time left.
But I want to ask again, going back to the culture.
You've only been there for three and a half years,
but Prirari has such a storied past, with such strong leaders.
What kind of imprint do you want to leave on
the culture? What is the unique selling point that you
bring to Ferrari and that you hope to leave with Ferrari.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
That's a good point, and I think that what I
what I want to leave to the company is to
make sure that there is empowerment at all level in
the company. I want all the level in the company
to be empowered. I want all the level to contribute
to the innovation, because it's fundamental that today and in
the future the organization work more than not so much
(42:23):
in a hierarchical mode, but a more measured way, interconnected way.
And if I think also the progress we are doing
for example and sustainability, it's something that is happening because
the blue collars, together with the white collars, are bringing
up some new ideas. I think it's fundamental today with
all the tools we have, you know what'sapp email, we
(42:45):
can cause AI, but national intelligence is also important. It
will always be important because the emotional intelligence. The AI
will never have the emotional intelligence Okay, yeah, it's like
to think when you think about a man is ahead,
but there's also the gat okay, yeah, is only a
man with big brain, but there is also a gut
(43:07):
feeling that makes the difference. So what I want to say,
I would I would like to leave a company that
there's a culture that is more suitable for the challenge
that the company will live in the future. I am
very pleased we are doing very good progress in this direction.
Many others will do together.
Speaker 3 (43:24):
Well.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
It's a noble cause. And I really appreciate you sitting
down with us.
Speaker 5 (43:27):
Thank you, Matt, thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
That was so great. I really regret that I wasn't
able to make that interview map, but you did great obviously.
I always learn a lot when I listen. It's just
so good to hear from the horse's mouth straight from Italy.
You know what's going on for sure.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
For sure, I will say they missed you.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
The whole PR team was like, we're so excited to
see Hannah, and then when I got to the to
the conference room, they were like, where's Hannah.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
You got to keep them wanting more.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Exactly exactly, so when you go and see them at
Villa Deeste or whatever, they'll be like super happy to
see your Yeah, it was good fun to talk to him,
and it's always fun to dream about Ferraris. I got
to spend a lot of time on the website digging
into it before he came in because I wanted to
be prepared. And you know, it's funny the website it
is not to the same level as the suspension system
(44:20):
of the puro saying and I've.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
Noticed you a little trouble. It's just not quite there.
And of course that's not their focus, right because it
should be that.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
I doubt their main customers are spending time configuring the
cars on This is.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
A thing with like every automaker. The websites are trash
they take. Maybe they're two, maybe they're they're trying to
overcomplicate it, because it does always seem like they're constantly spooling.
They take forever to low. They're hard to navigate. You know,
you can't it doesn't give you what you need right away.
This seems to be kind of a thing with automakers.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
They're not quite as good as they could be, even
like Porstia probably has one of the most detailed configurators
and then one of the deepest, right because you can
be filming the components that you put on the car,
but it's just not quite there. You know, you break
off from the regular website into like a child window.
(45:18):
And yeah, I mean Doucatti has always had problems. Uh,
I'm just thinking of the ones I hit up a lot.
I like Chevy has a pretty good one Ford, but
they're just not as good as they could be.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
You know, Yeah, I know, I I it's tough when
you're a journalist and you're trying to sort of find information,
and that's when I just start emailing prs because half
the time, too, what the PR tells me is different
than what's on the website. And you know, sometimes they're
not aware that they're sending conflicting messages.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
So all right, I've got to head to a dinner,
and you've got your I.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Was gonna I was gonna ask if you've got any
if you've had any amazing meals yet or has ever I've.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Had and I've had.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
I had a truly amazing meal, like I'm talking Michelin
level at a place called Comone Hamone so like their
version of Ferrari La Ferrari su right here in the
old city of Valencia. If you if you come here,
I highly recommend checking out this restaurant. Like it's a
great couples night for two that.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
I mean amazing.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
I had the flaw which was insane in the waveless rotost,
which is a very simple dish, but they made it
like at a culinary height that I wouldn't have expected.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
So yeah, amazing.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
All right, cool, Well listen, you have a great trip.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
And uh they hid in magnuson Willow and wait, is
there a new one another puppy?
Speaker 3 (46:44):
Oh yeah, and the puppy the new one.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
There's no new one yet, but you know, you never
know of.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
These, Okay, okay, I keep I keep expecting that, and
I'll see you here at same time, same place next
Week's right.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
I'm Matt Miller, and I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is
Bloomberg
Hosts And Creators
Hannah Elliott
Matt Miller
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