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AROUND THE GLOBE PETER M U L L I N
PIERO FERRARI DAVID SYDORICK
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Piero Ferrari: In the Name of the Father For an Italian firm in the luxury sector whose cars are the objects of desire for collectors the world over, the ongoing involvement of the original families is a guarantee for the future.  by Antonio Ghini
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This image is more than a symbol because it summarizes the past, that of Enzo represented by the Alfa of the Scuderia of the 30s, the present, that of Piero Ferrari, vice president of Ferrari today, and the future of Enzo Ferrari, the young nephew who bears the name and passion of the legendary founder.
PIERO FERRARI: In THE nAME OF THE FATHER // 13
Enzo Ferrari, 58 years old, in 1956 with three of the first four cars classified at the Mille Miglia: the 290 MM number 548, victorious with Eugenio Castellotti, and the twin, number 600 driven by Manuel Fangio, which finished fourth. With the number 556 the 860 Monza of Luigi Musso finished third behind the other 860 number 551 driven by Peter Collins.
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F
or an Italian firm in the luxury sector whose cars are the objects of desire for collectors the world over, the ongoing involvement of the original families is a guarantee for the future. Piero Ferrari, Enzo’s son, talks about the company as it is today, and how it can count on the heritage represented by chairman John Elkann, grandson of Giovanni Agnelli, who in 1969 became a partner in the business founded by Enzo Ferrari. He also tells us about his own considerable experience in the company, and that of his grandson, also called Enzo Ferrari, Enzino to his f riends, who works at Maranello and is naturally attuned to the idiom of today’s millennials. “My father would have liked the Internet, he was always very interested in everything that was new,” says Piero Ferrari, reminiscing about his father, Enzo, thirty years after his death. We are in Piero’s office in Modena’s Viale Trento Trieste. It was right here that his family’s great automobile and racing venture began; here that the history of the Alfa Romeos with the Prancing Horse was written. The Ferraris were born in Maranello, starting in 1947. All of them, from the racers to the road cars that today represent over 40% of the overall value of the world’s foremost collections. It’s a percentage that would rise considerably if it reflected the actual desire to own such gems. “My father would have been proud of this,” Piero states as he turns the pages of The Key and observes the values of other marques, all of them much, much lower. “And the Alfa comes second, surely that’s no coincidence!”. Then, he picks up his smartphone, as if the stream of his memories had originated from there: “He was always looking forward to the car that was still to come. Even his own that he’d sell after one year. That’s why he would certainly have paid great attention to the whole digital revolution, communication first and foremost.” This rings completely true: among Enzo Ferrari’s many intuitions, there’s even an early form of social media. Every morning, Enzo used to go for a shave at Antonio’s barber’s shop on Corso Canal Grande, a stone’s throw from his home. That was common enough at the time, when electric razors where noisy and inefficient and
disposable razors were still to come. Lying back in the barber’s chair, his face covered in shaving cream, he liked to hear Antonio’s take on local news, reciprocating with more or less veiled messages that he knew would be relayed to the intended recipient. A sort of shaven Facebook, but fifty years before the birth of Mark Zuckerberg! “We made it alone and we don’t need anything,” Enzo dared to say to Italy’s erstwhile Prime Minister bettino Craxi when he visited the Maranello plant. Autonomy and independence boosting the pride of the successful Italian family business were core messages that Piero remembers well as he had personally witnessed the meeting. Companies like Ferrari nurture a form of entrepreneurship made up of creativity and courage, where decisional independence is essential. Ferrari was indeed a family concern, and all things considered, it still is today. Piero, the second shareholder, is deputy chairman. John Elkann, chairman and main shareholder, is the grandson of Giovanni Agnelli, the eminent President of Fiat, who in 1969 agreed to take a 50% and then a 90% stake in Ferrari, thereby helping the company consolidate and grow. “I was pleased at the end-of-year convention when John pointed out that it was the first time since my father’s death that the chairman of Ferrari is a member of the family that led the company through to the present day....” between the lines, his words reveal that also in future years, when Ferrari will have to keep passion alive in a changing world, there will still be room in the company for members of the families that made it so successful. Elegantly attired in a dark suit, Piero sits at the head of a large table in the meeting room of HPE, one of his firms. One can’t help wondering what it was like to live alongside such a powerful and esteemed father. “I loved cars as much as he did, but I was also aware of having a completely different character. He was invincible, a deliberately legendary figure, and I always knew that emulating him wasn’t the right thing for me. Initially, I was drawn by situations outside Ferrari because I love technology and everything that’s future-oriented,” he says calmly. And there’s plenty that speaks of his foresight and qualities. He founded HPE Coxa, a company specialized in advanced technology, he is a partner of the Ferretti Yachts Group, and he was Chairman of
Piaggio Aero. but it’s Enzo’s blood that flows in his veins: he doesn’t like to play to the gallery; he’s aware of his own abilities and doesn’t feel the need to show off. It’s an approach to life that might seem to be almost oriental, but even this can be misleading. “There are certain situations in which I fly off the handle and I’m perfectly able to insist on my point of view.” Enzo used to wear dark glasses “as a sort of visual shield, so that no one quite knew what he was thinking.” When he took them off, he always came across as friendly, though everyone was rather afraid of him. He would invite his closest collaborators to lunch, people such as benzi, Sergio Scaglietti, Franco Gozzi, or racing drivers and technicians. Piero is completely different in this respect. He’s a man who openly says what is on his mind. As president of COCER, the committee that handles the certification of Ferrari Classiche automobiles, for instance, he’s never been prepared to give in to pressure, no matter where it comes from. In other words, Ferrari is not just a historic car manufacturer successfully listed on the stock exchange, because at heart it’s still a family concern that is irresistibly Italian. What’s more, another family member is now also involved in the company: Piero’s thirty-year-old grandson Enzo Ferrari, who worked for Ducati in the MotoGP sector managing the Philip Morris sponsorship. Enzo junior joined the Maranello team in spring 2018. During a dinner with family and friends, Sergio Marchionne turned to Enzo and asked him when he was coming to work for the firm. A few weeks later, there he was at Ferrari, initially dealing with product marketing with nicola boari, and thereafter expanding his expertise in the brand department. We’ve known young Enzo for some time now, and though it may seem a little early for predictions, we feel that it’s not unrealistic to think of him as the right person in the right place. He has talents that seem made to measure for the challenges ahead, for tomorrow’s world of new technologies, in which success will be the fruit of the right balance between human and non-human. Enzino’s culture and experience are international, he’s young enough to be classified as a millennial, he has a real passion for engines and racing, and to cap it all, he’s naturally warm and understanding. It’s as though Enzo junior were putting PIERO FERRARI: In THE nAME OF THE FATHER // 15
into skillful practice Piero’s vision of Enzo senior enjoying the Internet. back in the 1930s, the original Enzo Ferrari began publishing Annuals that exalted the achievements of his driver customers (paying customers who spurred the company forward), and then in the 1950s, Enzo himself wrote some magnificent books, including Piloti Che Gente and Le Briglie del Successo, as well as producing the series of magnificent Annuals. A man of such vision would certainly have appreciated the new prospects for communication brought about by the Web today. but will today’s youngsters still nurture the passion for cars? Piero has an interesting, thought-provoking theory on the subject: “We are attracted by cars that recall the years of our youth, our unaffordable dream vehicles. by collecting them in later years, we are buying the dreams we had as kids. not just Ferraris. Those were great years, with styles in continual evolution: just think of the little English Spyders. It’s different
for young people today, and I also wonder what the future holds. but I’m convinced that the attraction will remain, and not just on account of the appeal of the design and knowledge of the technology involved. The real change will be moving from memories to the desire for first-hand experience. There’s nothing like classic cars for a unique experience.” It’s a persuasive viewpoint, because in these times of storytelling, experience can become an effective narrative that gets people involved. The Web itself is all about participation. We ask Piero if he agrees with the tendency among certain car manufacturers for launching contemporary versions of classic cars. The Ferrari Monza SP is a case in point. “Yes I do, actually. It’s a way of breathing new life into models of the past. but this can’t be done too often....” Yet such vehicles don’t coincide with the Ferraris people want to collect, because
what collectors want is monetary as well as emotional investment. “When you look at the trends, you realise that the value of Ferraris continues to grow,” Piero explains. So how did Enzo’s magical automobiles come about? “My father always had a gut reaction to new models, he didn’t look at the details, just said whether he liked them or not. He didn’t analyze the style. I remember that he used to go to Scagliettiin Modena when they were beating the sheet metal, and on occasions would say that the wheel arch was too rounded and he made them change it.” ‘Old’ Sergio (Scaglietti) used to work “drawing the iron threads,” which meant tracing the outline in space so that the metal could be pounded into shape. Sergio nurtured great respect for Enzo, and would never have dared contradict the man he referred to as “l’omon”, (the big man), on account of his imposing size. “My father once went to see how a car intended for some Motor Show or other was
Enzo Ferrari, seated next to Piero on the 815 Auto Avio Costruzioni, Ferrari’s first car built in 1940, shows, behind his glasses, the same cut of his great great-grandfather’s eyes. With an international culture, dynamic and deeply passionate, open and empathetic nature, the young Enzo has already had wide experience in the world of MotoGP. Today he works in Maranello. Good news for Ferrari lovers.
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coming along. He looked at it and said: ‘I don’t like the wheel arch, or the nose, and not the boot either.’ Scaglietti had to do it all again, commenting dryly that he could only save the doors!” For The Key we were hoping to unearth some hidden aspect of Enzo Ferrari’s life, even if he has been the subject of endless books and articles. but Piero’s answer to the first probing question was negative: “no, he left no account of what he thought the Ferrari of the future should be. Perhaps he thought it wouldn’t have been the same, or maybe he just didn’t want to think about it, or perhaps he’d imagined leaving some kind of a testament in this sense, but not one we know of...” In much respect, his effective testimonial was already there in the racing that he was so passionate about. “We watched the last Grand Prix together on television, it was July 1988, and he was very sick and found it hard to follow the race. At a certain point he asked me: ‘Piero, how are the Alfa Romeos doing?’. He’d begun his involvement in racing with the Alfas, and even though he’d won everything with the Ferraris, and there had been no Alfas in the Grand Prix for some time, his thoughts at that moment returned to his origins.” Likewise, his automobiles are his testimonials, because they bear witness to his ceaseless urge to transcend in everything. That’s why they feature in so many collections. However, the best insight into what he had in mind for the future of Ferrari lies in his desire that it should remain a company that cultivates the human element.A concern firmly rooted in the land of his origins, made up of people who work together with passion, where relentless drive for excellence is accompanied by the endless joy of successes that seem so utterly unattainable to become possible. A company of this sort can only exist if the people who work there put their guts and feelings as well as their minds into the job. A company in which boundless family spirit can guarantee the continuity that eludes the constraints of analysts and quarterly reports. A healthy company with solid public equity based on achievements, both past and present; a concern where you can feel the soulful effort of the people and of the families who created it, made it grow and helped it become truly a part of world heritage. This is Ferrari.
It does not require any presentations as it keeps breaking records, even in auction prices on top of all the race wins. The myth of its name, as simple as it is suggestive, comes from connecting the O of “Omologata” (homologated) with that of the category in which it had to run, the “Gran Turismo”. It was 1962 and the approval required that at least 25 cars were produced. The small Ferrari manufacturer, faced with this rule designed for the great builders, was struggling to reach the number. When the telegram from the FIA finally arrived, approving the homologation, the name came out spontaneously: Gran Turismo Omologata = GTO.
The cars on this page have a special value in the memory of Enzo Ferrari: the GTO was a symbol of his ability to win, in the ‘60s, when he wanted to participate in every championship: Formula 1, Sport Prototypes, Gran Turismo, and even the European Hill Climbs Championship. The F40 has a different symbolic value: in 1987, it was the last car he wanted. So extraordinary and coveted, it triggered a furious race to get one. At any price.
In 2002, to prepare Ferrari’s upcoming 60th anniversary celebrations, the then-president Luca di Montezemolo, wanted an extraordinary Ferrari dedicated to Enzo. The powerful Berlinetta has a design that recalls that of Formula 1 and the World Championships wins by Michael Schumacher. The Enzo remains the authentic symbol of the engine most loved by Enzo Ferrari: the V12-cylinder engine.
PIERO FERRARI: In THE nAME OF THE FATHER // 17