Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), believes Wall Street analysts are drastically underestimating the value of Ferrari, with the executive saying the sports car manufacturer is worth around $15 billion (€10.8 billion), rather than their $4.6 to $7.5 billion evaluations.
Not that the analysts’ estimates would matter: Marchionne says the company is not for sale, and never will be. That was more than obvious in yesterday’s five-year plan presentation, with one of the slides containing the line “Ferrari is not for sale.”
“You keep on getting your numbers wrong, so I might as well teach you the right valuation method. But to be absolutely categorical about this — Ferrari is not for sale,” Marchionne was quoted as saying by the Detroit Free Press.
He added that Ferrari is worth double the analysts’ valuations, especially if the brand were to increase volume to 10,000 vehicles a year. However, according to the five-year plan revealed yesterday, Ferrari doesn’t plan to maintain its current annual output of 7,000 units in order to retain exclusivity.
“The only thing we do know for sure is that it is a phenomenal repository of value, and it should never ever be underestimated,” Marchionne said about Ferrari. “Whenever you think we are going get hard pressed for cash, look at this,” he added.
Ferrari said it will launch a new model every year, with each to have a four-year lifespan before being refreshed and getting an M version for another four years.
By Dan Mihalascu
PHOTO GALLERY
