The FT Interviews Luca di Montezemolo
5.1.01

Paul Betts of the Financial Times has written the following article about the Ferrari President. It appeared in the Financial Times of 28 December 2000.

"It's been an extraordinary year. I got married. Ferrari won the Formula One championship after 21 years. Our sales of Ferrari sports cars will hit 4,000 for the first time this year." It's not that the challenges are over. Staying on top is even more difficult than becoming "numero uno". But the 53-year-old has some other things on his mind as well.

"I really would like to take a year's sabbatical," he says. His young wife Ludovica, expecting a baby in May, nods enthusiastically, although she has few illusions that her hyperactive husband would ever take a full year off.

Although Montezemolo sometimes thinks of leaving Ferrari, he is resigned to the fact that he will not be allowed to do so. Giovanni Agnelli, the patriarch of Fiat, which owns Ferrari, has already asked him to stay on. Montezemolo has always been fiercely loyal to Agnelli - the two talk to each other several times a week. This year Agnelli gave Montezemolo a splendid wedding gift - a Dollars 400,000 (Pounds 270,300) Ferrari prototype that he keeps in a farm shed.

The two men go back some way. After Montezemolo organised the World Cup in Italy in 1990, Fiat brought him in to revive Ferrari's fortunes - then flagging both on the Formula One circuit and in the market.

After the death of founder Enzo Ferrari in 1988 the company had lost its way. But Montezemolo re-engineered the Ferrari plant in Maranello, near Modena. The company has done virtually everything in-house there, from melting steel to final assembly - and the boss is proud of its spotless state.

"You hardly see a drop of oil on the shop floor. Try finding that in another car plant," Montezemolo says proudly. And Fiat has entrusted the company with the relaunch of another venerable sports car that had fallen on hard times: Maserati.

So it is little wonder that Ferrari has become a symbol of national pride. Even the Pope has visited the company - and politicians and industrial tycoons want to be seen behind the Ferrari wheel. Roberto Colaninno, Telecom Italia chief executive, bought one this year - but the King of Morocco preferred the new Maserati.

Hardly surprising then that when Fiat agreed an alliance between its car division and General Motors in March, Ferrari, the family jewel, was kept out of the deal. However, for a short while this summer, just after Montezemolo's wedding in his local church, it looked as if the Formula One season would turn yet again into disaster. Michael Schumacher had a sudden run of bad luck, crashing out at the start of a series of races. But, ultimately, Montezemolo exults: "We finally did it after 21 years."

But winning has its problems. Montezemolo had to rush back home after Sunday lunch in an old restaurant in Bologna to persuade one of his executives to stay. "The head hunters are swirling around Ferrari making offers for our best people. We've already lost two."

Later, Montezemolo offered his people bonuses that made Fiat's accountants wince. Even so, rival teams have put out offers he has difficulty in matching. One solution would be to float Ferrari on the stock market and give its staff stock options to strengthen loyalty. Paolo Fresco, Fiat's chairman, is understood to favour a Ferrari flotation. But first, Ferrari will probably have to complete the relaunch of Maserati.

This month Montezemolo was awarded an honorary degree in engineering by Modena university. But, a lawyer by training, he is more recognised for his marketing talents. Apart from his work at Ferrari, he has started a series of ventures in the luxury goods sector. He has launched a range of sunglasses with his friend Diego Della Valle, chairman of the Tod's shoes group. And, with another partner, he has also bought the Acqua di Parma perfume business - which he says he snapped up when he was looking for some aftershave for his father. His latest venture is a website called touchitaly, which promotes what he considers the best in Italian life - including, of course, his recent acquisitions.

Italy has certainly been good to Montezemolo. Thanks to the Formula One victory, he walks around his home town of Bologna like a film star. Even the police protecting the home of Romano Prodi, the EU president and a local resident, say "ciao" and inform him that Prodi is not at home when he rings the doorbell. A group of second world war veterans wants to shake his hand. He even hints at a political career. After all, he has been a jack of all trades - from publisher (he ran the Fiat-owned La Stampa newspaper in the 1980s) to drinks magnate (he was boss of Cinzano). He's vice-chairman of Bologna's first division football club. He was once chairman of rival Juventus - although deep down he supports Lazio.

But there remains one overwhelming reason why he might want to stay put. Despite his "extraordinary year", Ferrari's "numero uno" is still besotted with fast cars.

Copyright: The Financial Times Limited

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