Welcome to Disneyland Ferrari
Posted by Jamie Hibbard at 3:25PM on Tuesday 06 November, 2007 9 Comments
I don't imagine that there are many people who want to go up against Ferrari's president Luca Di Montezemolo in an argument.
Not even people who get on really well with him.
I certainly don't want to fight him, but I feel that I'm about to anyway.
I've never met the guy but he seems like an incredibly cool chap, and that's just from the way he looks and composes himself.
He's taken the Ferrari mantle and made it stronger than ever. The 430 Scuderia and doing the F1 double this year - I know, I know - are just two things that stand testament to this.
But on the other side, there's his crass commercialism.
I don't have a problem with all of it. I get the model cars for example... OK, I own lots of them, a few of which - a fine 1/18th scale 250 GTO included - go back to way before Luca's reign.
I get the t-shirts. The hats. The luggage. I like the smart pens and the cool watches. I even like the hooded bath robe... which is hung on the back of my door.
But honestly, I feel that this Ferrari Theme Park on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi is just a step too far.
The F1 race there in 2009 will no doubt be great, as will the roller coasters and possibly even the automotive displays. But all I can see in my mind's eye is Disneyland Ferrari. With a huge and invasively large amount of cheese.
No, not that cheese, but tacky, sold-out, brand damaging tat.
Imagine the Prancing Horse costumed employees walking around having their photos taken with the children. Or the Modena Castle with King Enzo, the lovable old Father Christmas type making kids' red car dreams come true...
It makes me sick a little bit in my mouth just to think about it.
So Luca, please, don't let it work out like this. For all of our sakes.
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9 Comments for "Welcome to Disneyland Ferrari"
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I have been a Ferrari fan since I saw my first grand prix and I feel this is just tackifying a perfectly good brand that everyone knows about anyway, it's not like they need more people to know they exist.
I completly agree. I feel though that Ferrari has sold out and is trying to appeal to too great of an audience. It's the same thing with thier cars nowadays, too much reliability and reusability and not enough shouty Italian passion. Now a theme park to boot? I honestly can say the worst times of my life have been in theme parks, with all the tacky plush dolls and the over the top attractions. Please Ferrari, don't make a theme park.
I'd go just to get a Kimi Raikkonen stuffed toy.... and a Michael Schumacher one, for use as a voodoo doll.
I've been a tifosi since I can remember. In past days, I had the chance to visit the Maranello Factory as a journalist. I learned there that Ferrari is a brand that cares about human values. I saw that an employee in the factory is important for the brand, the managers and leaders. It was a surprise for me to see they care about the people, the environment and the brand itself.
So, if Luca makes that kind of attraction at any place in the world, I'm plenty sure that will be managed with the same parameters for a product that will become finally another Ferrari pride thing.
If this ludicrous scheme ever sees the light of day then Mr Montezemolo may well be remembered in the same breath as Gerald Ratner - not a good epitaph.
Now if you want to cheapen your brand image, compromise your company's integrity and principles, alienate your customers, generate a vast amount of bad publicity, and have old man Enzo spinning in his grave all in one go, then go right ahead Luca.
Now I'm no tifosi, but even I can see the world needs Ferrari to survive and prosper as an aspirational, yet slightly inaccessible brand - that's what makes it so damn cool. So what can a 'Prancing Horse Theme Park' bring to mix? Nothing in my mind.
Tell me I'm wrong Ferrari.
I completely agree. I feel though that Ferrari has sold out and is trying to appeal to too great of an audience. It's the same thing with their cars nowadays, too much reliability and re usability and not enough shouty Italian passion. Now a theme park to boot?
I honestly can say the worst times of my life have been in theme parks, with all the tacky plush dolls and the over the top attractions. Please Ferrari, don't make a theme park.
Ferrari should do as they please, Making the best cars in the world and selling Prancing horse merchandise are two entirely separate things. No other car company in the world could make a car so focused as the Scuderia. Buyers of such cars are not worried about merchandise "tat" as they don't buy it! They are only interested in the cars.
Ferrari still has it's eye on the ball in this department. Anyone who believes that Ferrari has sold out by opening a theme park in Abu Dhabi is not seeing the bigger picture.
Well it's the new 'thing' to do. Just look at the "disneyland" nurburgring that is going to be built.
It's the same procedure: Take a legendary automotive "institution", build a theme park and some souvenir shops around it, and exploit the legend... making it less attractive to the real enthusiasts that are the base of it. The ones that stuck with the legend for many years and forged its myth.
We Europeans should know better than to "Americanize" our great things.
Where do I start? With Doug! He has a problem with Ferrari because their cars are too reliable! Doug has neither driven or owned a Ferrari. What's wrong with a FerrariLand in Abu Dhabi?
Certainly, there must be more people per capital there who can afford a Ferrari than most other places. Have you ever seen the awful custom cars delivered to customers in that part of the world? If the potentates of Abu Dhabi want a cheesy Ferrari Playland, I say it's smart business to give them what they want.
As for Ferrari being above this sort of thing, wake up! Look at how Ferrari allocates cars to its chosen clientle. Only the richest gold-chain wearing wannabe F1 drivers get on the list for the next new model, and wait two years kissing the company's butt.
I'd rather spend a day at FerrariLand than an hour with a bunch of typical Ferrari owners.