Originally Posted by Simba (Post 1169465)

I'm not the one taking offense to a critical review of a car I own.

So far as Ferrari goes: They have made a significant depature from the direction of the company as it was run for much of its history. The last ~15-20 years have represented a huge change in overall mindset of the company. They have abandoned sports car racing, largely abandoned their hardcore, enthusiast fans and have gravitated towards a more Lambo-esque glamor over substance ethos. As I said, certainly the cars are more reliable, faster, and much easier to drive. They are targeted towards a different demographic than they once were as a result.

Economically, that has worked out pretty well for them. They sell more cars and make quite a lot more money. A strong parallel can be drawn with Toyota, who also abandoned their enthusiast base to concentrate on econoboxes and SUVs, markets which have been much more profitable for them than sports cars. As a result, Toyota's brand has changed from the bomb-proof, over-engineered last word in bang for the buck quality and engineering elegance, to those people who make Priuses and eleven different flavors of SUV that nobody can tell apart at a glance (or in general).

So, what happens when various Korean and eventually Chinese makers start chipping away at the Prius and small SUV market? Ultimately, the same thing that happened to the domestic auto industry here in the 80s. What does that mean for Ferrari? Not a whole lot right now. What will it mean in 20-30 years when the dozen new supercar market entries that happen every decade slowly but surely chip away at their market? Probably nothing good.

I could draw even more parallels between the kind of management thinking going on at Ferrari and what has happened between Microsoft and Apple in the last decade and change. That's not hurbis, that's a reasonable analysis of business and market trends among several companies.

You're free to disagree, and conclude that the sham that is "F1 tech in street cars! OMG!!!11oneone" will continue to sell cars for generations to come. Much as people were free to conclude that Apple would be doomed in "just a few years now" as recently as 2005. My point is, the market is a cruel mistress, and to abandon and largely ignore the very thing that made your company great is galactically stupid no matter what company is doing it.