Ferrari CEO opens the door on building utility vehicle

MILAN » Ferrari’s chief executive told investors Wednesday that the luxury sports car maker will look at building a crossover utility vehicle, but promised any model it produces would be unique and not compromise the brand’s exclusivity.

CEO Sergio Marchionne has in the past colorfully disavowed Ferrari entering the utility vehicle segment. During the 90-minute investor call, analysts, one after the other, cautioned Marchionne about tarnishing the Ferrari name.

Marchionne tried to assuage them.

“The answer is, it probably will happen, in Ferrari style,” he told analysts. “Ferrari has been known historically to be able to redefine and define segments of the auto space. “

The utility vehicle segment “is too big and it’s too inviting” the CEO said.

“And I think that we have a lot of our customers who will be more than willing to drive a Ferrari-branded vehicle that has that kind of utilitarian objective,” he added.

Ferrari would not be competing with Porsche’s Cayenne the SUV Lamborghini expects to unveil this year if it enters the utility vehicle arena, Marchionne said.

If Ferrari developed a car that looked like “either a BMW or even a Bentley SUV, I think I would deserve to be shot,” he said in a twist on comments made during previous analyst calls that appeared to all but rule out a Ferrari SUV.

Marchionne has said he wants to transform Ferrari into a luxury goods maker, leveraging the brand into adjacent product lines. Luxury leather wear and apparel makers can see margins of 36 percent or more at the upper echelons.

The CEO said he would provide details on those plans during the first quarter of 2018, along with additional details on future models and the role of the Formula 1 team in the overall strategy.