► Ferrari CEO, Benedetto Vigna, talks to CAR
► Three years into the job, we discuss the future of Ferrari
► And that incoming Ferrari EV…
ontrary to the way in which Ferrari is run in my Hollywood-affected head (murderous glances and Machiavellian moves behind dark glasses; dimly-lit offices thick with smoke and the ever-present threat of an outburst) Benedetto Vigna looks at peace with the world, happy in his work and content in his new role as Maranello’s lucky mascot…
Two days prior to our conversation he made an appearance on my TV, beaming on the grid in the rapturous wake of Charles Leclerc’s unexpected win at Monza. A few hours later a Ferrari 499P won the World Endurance Championship event at COTA, Texas. Unbelievably it was the first time in history Ferrari has won two FIA world championship races in the same weekend.
‘That will forever be a historical date for me,’ smiles Vigna. ‘We won in F1, we won in endurance and it was three years to the day since I joined Ferrari as CEO. It was the best gift I could get. I told Charles, “Thank you for this!”
‘After the Grand Prix I had about 3000 WhatsApp messages: tifosi, investors, competitors, friends from many periods of my life… For us the old saying [win on Sunday, sell on Monday] is partially true, for the luxury goods and the merchandising. There is no relation to [car] sales or the share price. But it’s a good reminder. One guy contacted me, the head of a big investment fund. He told me that when you see this ocean of people, standing with these huge flags bearing the Ferrari shield, everyone understands in that moment the power – the real power – of the brand.’
Vigna has spent his first three years at Ferrari leading it, nurturing it, gently challenging it – and learning it. ‘You cannot understand Ferrari until you are in it. You think you understand it from the visible elements, like Formula 1, but you do not. I’ve learned that it means family – you are never alone when you work for Ferrari. And yes, it is intense, but my previous life [with STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor corporation] was also intense. There, the biggest challenge was having the same number of people [as at Ferrari] but spread over 20 locations. My life before was one week in Asia, one week in Europe, one week in the US, all year round…
I never had an August vacation in my life! At least here it’s a little easier because most of the people are here in Maranello.
‘The biggest challenge here is communication management, because everything you do in this company – positive or negative – is amplified a lot. When you are in a tech company the communication is only about one thing: performance. Here there are three dimensions: the performance, the beauty and the storytelling associated, because this is a luxury company.’
A couple of years ago, then new to the role, Vigna was cautious when he spoke. He’s more comfortable now, happy to expand on the ideas and concepts his restless mind fires out like so much cerebral radiation. He also reads a lot, particularly now he has a summer break. Recent material includes a book on automotive history – ‘everything since the horse’ – and Chris Miller’s Chip War.
‘Ferrari debuted the 125 S the same year, 1947, that Bell Laboratories demonstrated the first transistor. I worked in that world for 25 years but reading this book I understood many things I was not able to connect previously; how the technology has evolved, its impact on the geopolitical equilibrium, on the global economy… Reading those two books together I was able to connect many dots.’
Does his technology background put Ferrari at an advantage? ‘Coming from a high-tech space gives me three advantages. I understand the technology – this is important because otherwise you end up spending a lot of money for nothing. When I arrived the CFO told me to look at the infotainment system, where the company was spending millions. I was able to deliver a big saving. Also, when you work in the semiconductor space, you work with the whole world; Korea, Taiwan, America. I came from a business that was already doing this. The third advantage is open innovation. In the semiconductor space you can proceed so fast because of open innovation.’
The ‘move fast and break things’ mantra, originally coined by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, came to define the unthinking recklessness of big tech. Fortunately, Vigna’s take is more thoughtful. ‘I like Shakespeare: nimble thought can jump land and sea. Innovation cannot have a hit rate of 100 per cent. What is important is that you try, you learn and adapt nimbly. There is always a thin red line. It’s like when you are driving fast in a curve, trying to understand the limit of the car. Push too hard and you are out; fail to push hard enough and you lose time.’ Vigna’s Ferrari is pushing pretty hard. In the next 16 months we’ll see a LaFerrari successor and the EV. To the latter, despite Lamborghini apparently being in no hurry and Aston’s announcement it’s put full-electric on the backburner, Vigna remains committed.
‘When you have nothing it is a good excuse to postpone,’ he smiles, in reference to rivals’ reticence. But the first Ferrari in history without an engine is a huge deal, and it arrives on his watch. Does that not keep him awake at night?
‘Let me tell you, the weight of responsibility is always there regardless of the powertrain, because there are 5000 people in the company, there are other people associated and there is the brand. Never in my career have I had success by taking my time. There was this guy in history, Quinto Fabio Massimo – he used that strategy with Hannibal and he lost… We selected this approach and invested because we believe this is something important, not for the technology per se but for its ability to touch people’s emotions. This is not new to me. In my career I’ve always developed new technology starting with the end user. Enzo Ferrari was not an engineer. Steve Jobs was not an engineer. But they understood this.
‘We develop new technologies out of a desire to improve the quality of life, not only from a utility point of view but also for fun. The electric car will do this. I have driven it and it is something unique. When you talk about electric cars today you’re generally talking about something heavy and okay on linear acceleration. But when you go lateral acceleration, the feeling in the body, the gyroscope in the ears, this is decoupled and you do not feel well. The people making electric cars today have to optimise the cost – we have the luxury of not having to do this. And in any case the electric car will be an additional platform, so we leave the freedom of choice to our client – it is not an imposition.’
Ferrari remains committed to a portfolio of powertrains, its 2030 projection a range split 20 per cent combustion, 40 per cent electric and 40 per cent hybrid. ‘Technology transitions are never digital; they require time,’ says Vigna. ‘This is why we said we would add the electric platform to hybrid and internal combustion engines.
‘My other key decisions [to date] have been to not increase sales volumes, because you lose the essence of the brand, and not to grow too much in China, because you need the market to get acquainted with the brand at the right speed. Another was the decision to do the e-building, which is compatible with our strategy and is also an environmental decision. This is now a key metric. For every component we know the cost, the timing, the quality and the carbon footprint. This is important.’
Really? This from a company that sells 6.5-litre V12s no one needs?
‘In the early days of my career I did not understand the value of it. But now I think we have to leave a better world to our next generation. There is also extra responsibility when you are a luxury-goods company, making things that are by definition not useful. Luxury companies can push innovation because of their price point and they can have a cultural impact because of our profile. This is an important dimension: we can show the world that this transition can be done. But we want to do it in a scientific way. It is a complex challenge. I don’t like to talk about green cars – to say a car has zero impact because there is no exhaust.’
Vigna drives plenty of Ferraris. ‘I have done a lot more driving since I joined. I am ready for F1 now…’ he laughs. ‘In July I drove the 296 GTB, a 166 MM, the Testarossa of 1957, the electric car, the 12Cilindri and I did a big trip in the Purosangue I have, from the north of Italy to the south.’
Given the awesome performance of cars like the 296 and the 12Cilindri, must each new Ferrari continue to outperform the last?
‘Progress is intrinsic in any company that wants to have sustainable success – to enjoy a sustainable advantage. When you drive the 812 Superfast and the 12Cilindri, as I have, you see the difference and you perceive the difference. The best car will always be the next one. We push for continuous improvement, to get closer to the essence of motion. I don’t think this process will ever reach an end.’
The untapped potential in software excites Vigna, as you might imagine given his background (his first work with Ferrari pre-dates his appointment as CEO, when his team created the battery management system for the LaFerrari).
‘There is much more to the software side than perhaps people think. You have basic software, like closing the windows, and you have the human interface. With this we just mirror what is on your phone, like a smart TV. Autonomous? We do only what is required by regulation. But there is also vehicle dynamics, and here we invest with our engineers, physicists and mathematicians to make something unique. We do not yet fully understand the relationship between the input from outside and the perception in the brain – the psychophysics. If a level of acceleration is beyond what it is possible to perceive, what is the point? There are some things as human beings we are not able to perceive. But the electronics must see it, for the stability of the car. We are looking at two things: the high frequency, for the dynamic control of the vehicle; and the lower frequency, for the enjoyment of the driver.’
As we navigate the Maranello site, forever a work in progress (the e-building is complete and set to come on stream in January; work is underway on a new paint facility) Vigna greets colleagues constantly. So warm and frequent are the interactions that my British cynicism immediately questions their authenticity. After two hours I’m forced to admit they’re likely genuine. Is his a warmer Ferrari?
‘We work together with Dallara on the 499P. After we won in Le Mans last year, I called Giampaolo Dallara to thank him on behalf of Ferrari. And you know he started to cry. He told me that in decades of working with us this was the first time Ferrari had thanked him. This is something we need to understand: that at the centre of everything are the people, and not all of these people wear the Ferrari badge. Very often there is something that cannot happen unless you have the right sponsor, the right partner.’
Perhaps Ferrari has been guilty of arrogance in the past? ‘A little bit, yes. This is a change in philosophy, and it helps that I was a supplier. You want the full motivation of your suppliers, and to get that you need to make them feel important and engaged. As soon as they feel exploited you don’t get the maximum, you get the minimum.’
Refreshingly, Vigna rubbishes the notion that becoming CEO of Ferrari was the culmination of some lifelong dream, Hollywood style. ‘I never thought I would become the CEO of any company. When I hear people saying that it was always their ambition I cannot believe this. I think if you do things in which you can express yourself the best, in terms of creativity, this is important. When you can do something that involves you from a rational point of view and, most importantly, from an emotional point of view, too, this is satisfying. Then, if you are lucky, you become the CEO. But this is not the most important thing. The important things are that you have fun, that you give your best and that you have fun working with other people. This is something that I’m doing here in Ferrari.’
Ferrari’s architects, by Georg Kacher
Luca di Montezemolo
Appointed CEO at a young age by the tycoon Gianni Agnelli himself in 1991, Luca di Montezemolo – immaculately dressed, well educated and very well mannered – arrived a year after Amedeo Felisa. The latter was the marque’s long-time CTO and, in cahoots with di Montezemolo, architect of the ingenious fully scalable aluminium architecture that underpinned the highly profitable brand-shaping 550/575/599/F12/812 V12s and the equally successful mid/rear-engined V8 bloodline that began with the F355. Opposed to an SUV, Luca also re-iterated just a few months before his departure his fervent belief that Ferrari must maintain exclusivity by staying under 7000 units a year…
Sergio Marchionne
Sergio showed up to meetings in baggy corduroys and a black sweater, a pair of buzzing phones in one hand and a smouldering Muratti cigarette in the other. The anti-di Montezemolo in so many ways, he handled Ferrari differently, too. Felisa was a Montezemolo man so Marchionne hired Michael Leiters from Porsche to run R&D. The first priority was that dreaded SUV, which turned out to be a hit, and the money-spinning SP cars. Sergio’s profit-orientated approach proved that higher volumes did not make Ferrari’s cars any less desirable – stopgap CEO Louis Camilleri and current boss Vigna have stuck to the same formula.