Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri has stepped down from his position with immediate effect.
Confirmed by Maranello overnight, Camilleri has departed from his CEO role and board member position, with chairman John Elkann stepping into the former role on an interim basis. He's also charged with finding a successor.
Camilleri took over in mid-2018, shortly after former CEO Sergio Marchionne died from complications following surgery. It's widely reported that Camilleri was hospitalised due to Covid-19 in recent weeks and is recovering at home, but his illness wasn't the main reason for his resignation.
In a statement, Camilleri said: “Ferrari has been a part of my life, and serving as its chief executive has been a great privilege. My admiration for the extraordinary men and women of Maranello and for the passion and dedication they apply to everything they do knows no bounds. I’m proud of the company’s numerous achievements since 2018 and know that Ferrari’s best years are still to come.”
The sudden leadership change comes after a period of difficulty for the wider automotive industry during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ferrari’s shares have bucked the wider trend, rising by about a fifth throughout 2020, but fell by around 1% this morning as the news broke.
Camilleri oversaw Ferrari’s greatest year to date for sales in 2019, with more than 10,000 cars shifted for the first time. Five new models were introduced in that year, while average transaction prices increased as the brand moved even further upmarket and increased its customisation options.
Elkann is unlikely to stay in his interim position for long, because he's set to become chairman of the merged Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group company, Stellantis, once the merger is finalised.
Elkann is also CEO of holding company Exor as a member of the Agnelli family that controls Ferrari.
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No great loss in my opinion. If you've ever seen him make a presentation, a more lack-lustre performance would be hard to imagine. He may be a competent bean counter to keep the shareholders happy but my experience as a Ferrari owner and repeat customer has been pretty miserable. Too much model churn, iffy quality, huge depreciation, long waits for product and all the rest.
I was at school with Louis (Ullathorne, Downside school). I would love to see his CV. When I knew him he could not even count beans. I would love to test him now. Ambitious yes, able and intelligent no. Who ever believed him? He used to sit at the back of an empty class mostly on his own and I believe he was ploting his path to greatness. Yes Louis, you and Smon? Hood. I am the one who ignited his love of Ferrari. So much so that he posted a message showing off to me how he had bought a Dino a few years after we left school. Louis please contact me for the full interview. Peter Lewis (Ramsey, Downside School 1971).
Wow. Just how far up your own arse is your head? If scumbags like you had written me off because I wasn't very good at school my life would have been very different. As it happens, I wasn't written off and have actually turned out OK with the intelligence to be able to run a reasonably successful business (Brexit and Covid notwithstanding) but I can only speak three languages fleuntly. Considering Louis Camilleri can speak four I must be less than useless to someone like you. Prat.
Does smoking make Corona worse? At the start of the pandemic, it seemed that people who smoked were less affected and there was a run on nicotine products and some countries/vendors were rationing them.
I don't think any studies have been carried out which show the smoking makes Corona worse and it is too early to say anyway.
I assume that he has gone because of the poor performance of the F1 team which is their shop window. When the Scuderia do badly there has to be a fall guy and I assume this time it was him.
I guess the call was placed to the butcher's shop in Maranello and a horse's head duly appeared on his pillow to remind him that he needed to spend some more time with his family!
Yes, smoking makes COVID worse. Vaping even more so.
Quick Google will confirm this if you need evidence.
Some are speculating that he's got cancer from the products Philip Morris produce, the other company he's involved with. Only finding out because he had COVID, which smoking makes much much worse (and vaping even more).