Ferrari President and Chairman Luca di Montezemolo was in the San Francisco bay area over the weekend to give a speech at Stanford, and met up with Apple CEO Tim Cook and “heads of Google” for some exclusive face time. While it is not clear what all the brass was discussing, di Montezemolo shed some light on the present goings-on regarding Ferrari, during his presentation for MBA students – and compared his company’s business model to Apple’s – citing that both companies’ core values are “attention to the brand, exclusivity, attention to the people, attention to the environment and control from a central location,” which are integral to growth and success.
di Montezemolo also noted a shared, core “passion for product,” and went on say that “Vision is something crucial for your people – Give them clear goals, clear priorities and give everyone the possibility to grow up [internally] – When you’ve got a leader in a company like Steve Jobs, people have big respect and big gratitude for what he’s done.”
Other tidbits from di Montezemolo’s speech include a mention Ferrari’s new V12 hybrid supercar which might be out late this year, advances in its patented Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) – and the executive went on to take a jab at German competitor Porsche, calling their cars “perfect and cold,” as compared to Ferrari’s classic hot red. di Montezemolo’s also pointed out that though he thinks the Chevy Volt is a good concept, Ferrari will plainly not be producing a fully electric car – or an SUV, like the new Lamborghini Urus, for that matter.
di Montezemolo, who’d arrived to the University’s View From the Top summit in a $330,000 Ferrari 458 Italia, closed his speech by adding, “I’m not here to sell. I’m here to let you dream.” In related news, it is not clear if Apple CEO Tim Cook now considers iOS to be the Ferrari of operating systems. Had to.