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Ferrari SUV:: ‘You have to shoot me first’, says chairman

The only major ‘holdout’ not making a super-luxury SUV at this point is Italian icon Ferrari.


The Lamborghini Urus, Maserati Levante, Bentley Bentayga and a certain unnamed Rolls-Royce are coming. Porsche has been making the Cayenne more than a decade.

This fact was always a a point of pride for previous Ferrari boss Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. But with Fiat Chrysler (FCA) chief Sergio Marchionne now also chairman at the Maranello company, might a change of tack be on the cards?

Market analysts asked Marchionne this very question during the week. Will Ferrari make an SUV to meet volume goals? Never one to mince words, his response was: “You have to shoot me first”. Guess that answers that, then…

The comment comes after news that shares in Ferrari NV, now listed on the New York Stock Exchange and spun-off from FCA, fell 10.8 per cent on the back of softer sales projections, disappointing fourth-quarter earnings and the cool-off in China.

Pictured: Sergio Marchionne, in customary jumper, third from right.
Top of article: An oddly Ferrari-styled Rayton-Fissore Magnum.

Ferrari projected it would sell 7900 units this year, according to Bloomberg, which is 3 per cent over 2015. Shipments grew 6 per cent last year, though stronghold China dropped an alarming 22 per cent.

According to the same Bloomberg report, Marchionne said in mid-January that Ferrari could eventually boost output beyond 9000 units in 2019 — blowing away its previous cap of 7000 units.

“He reiterated that the company will ‘be fine’ as long as it follows its founder’s seven-decade-old dictum and builds fewer vehicles than customers want,” the Bloomberg said.

As we recently reported, Ferrari enjoyed an all-time record in Australia during 2015.

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