Sergio Marchionne, the Chairman of CNH Industrial, the CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the Chairman and CEO of Ferrari and also Chairman of Maserati, has denied that he has plans to buy into Ferrari after stepping down as Fiat president. The Italian-Canadian has already announced that he will retire as Fiat Chrysler chief in April of 2019, because “I want to do something else”.
But he will remain in charge at Ferrari until at least early 2021, triggering rumours the Fiat exit could in fact be because he wants to buy the fabled Maranello marque: “All noise.” – as reported by Italian newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports, La Gazzetta dello Sport. Referring to Ferrari, he said: “It’s good that we are optimistic. We will try to win the world championship, make a lot of money and we’ll all be happy.”
Sergio Marchionne said another big objective for 2018 is to continue to build the profile of Alfa Romeo, the new Sauber title sponsor: “Alfa Romeo is unfinished business,” he said. “We must continue to ensure that the brand is established internationally.”
Ferrari’s Chairman Sergio Marchiane was in Detroit yesterday and also had a few things to say about the Maranello team’s prospects for the season ahead, suggesting that the team seems very calm ahead of the roll out next month of the new car. Marchionne was very angry after the team bombed on home soil at Monza, but notably less so at the end of the F1 season despite losing the world championships to Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. There was little in the way of blood on the carpet, the group remained stable and his comments in Detroit suggest that this calmness will translate into a strong package for the 2018 Formula One championship: “I was in Maranello the last few days and I found the design guys almost too relaxed. I can only conclude that either we have made a crap car or a real beast! We have put everything into it, to have a super strong car. You’ll have to wait until February 22 when we present it.” he told Italy’s Gazetta dello Sport.
Sergio Marchionne said his objectives are “to win the world championship in F1 and to make a boat load of money with Ferrari.” He also suggested that he was no longer thinking of using the Maserati brand in Formula E, but rather that, “it would make more sense to try it in F1 with the Haas team and to have reasonable costs.” – the Italian-Canadian executive concluded, as reported by the Italian media.
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