Ferrari IPO Stalled Before It Reaches the Starting Line

Cars and Drivers

Published: June 5, 2015 1:30 pm

Last Updated: April 27, 2020 9:19 pm

At a conference in Venice, Italy, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) CEO Sergio Marchionne said that the planned initial public offering (IPO) of the company’s Ferrari group into a separately traded public company will not happen until at least October 13, the one-year anniversary of Fiat Chrysler’s own initial public offering (IPO) in October 2014.

When the Ferrari IPO was announced about two weeks after last year’s IPO, Marchionne said the plan was to sell about 10% of Ferrari’s shares to the public and to distribute 80% to FCAU shareholders. Fiat Chrysler currently owns 90% of Ferrari. The new Ferrari would be spun off completely from the parent company in early 2016.

The high-end business has been very good for Fiat Chrysler. Sales of Ferrari and Maserati vehicles totaled more than 40,000 last year. Marchionne wants to expand the luxury range downward, and that led to the retirement last October of Ferrari’s long-time chief, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.

Marchionne plans to increase production gradually to 10,000 units. Montezemolo wanted to maintain production at around 7,000 to underscore Ferrari’s exclusivity. He had a point: according to British brand research firm Brand Finance, Ferrari had been the world’s most powerful brand for the second-year running.

The Fiat chief saw the market for premium cars widening with Maserati and others now producing cars that are expensive, but not quite reaching the nose-bleed levels that typify Ferrari. For example, Ferrari’s 2014 California rings in at just under $200,000 for the base model, while the 458 Italia carries a base price of more than $250,000. The Ferrari FF lists for $295,000 and the F12berlinetta coupe has an MSRP of nearly $320,000. That is before customization — and that is where the real money gets spent. Customization gets the credit for the revenue jump at Ferrari under Montezemolo.

Really, what is wrong with a $150,000 Maserati Gran Turismo?

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