Comment by peoplefromibiza | Hacker News Reader

Comment by peoplefromibiza | Hacker News Reader

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peoplefromibiza

I think I owe an explanation.

Ferrari making all of the parts of the car they can is not about nationalistic pride, it's about control.

They make a luxury product and want to control everything about it.

Ferrari's pride has always been engines and an electric engine is made by motor+batteries.

Of course compromises are made, of course they don't manufactur absolutely everything, but Ferrari batteries are a plus for premium customers, just like Tesla batteries are what people buying Teslas want in their cars

People owning Ferrari also own the leather bag set specifically made to fit that model.

An example

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174824008379

of course made in Italy, Schedoni is based in Modena, where Maranello is.

It's part of the experience.

Apple is considered the Ferrari of computing because the majority of their customers only own Apple devices and accessories and wouldn't want anything else, especially if they are cheap off the shelf alternatives.

They live the Apple experience in full.

And Apple can offer it because of vertical integration, they are making their own CPUs for the same reason.

How long did it take to Apple to make it happen?

If Ferrari starts assembling core components from multiple retailers, it's not a unique custom made piece of ego anymore (and a show off of incredible crafting abilities if you ask me, a piece of art some would say), it's "just a fast car"

I hope I've explained myself better.

Anyway, I also think that the argument is somewhat silly from Italian politicians, but I can understand why they are pushing for it.

Nothing says made in Italy more than a Ferrari.

It's the most popular Italian brand in the whole World.

> not about nationalistic pride, it's about control

and yet even this explanation contains loaded phrasing suggesting excactly that

> Ferrari's pride has always been engines > Nothing says made in Italy more than a Ferrari

There is some value in the quality argument, but surely they can check incoming parts? Hand check everything, do the luxury quality thing etc.

I think the argument is not that they cannot get their hands on batteries up to their performance standard, rather it is they cannot make "unique, hand-crafted batteries lovingly labored over by the best people in the industry doing nothing but supplying Ferrari and looking back at X years of tradition". And honestly, it just sounds like pride to me (not that pride is always a bad thing).

> They live the Apple experience in full.

And the Apple experience worked just fine during the Intel MacBook phase.

Ferrari could do the same and try to come back with their M1 equivalent for electric driving later.

> There is some value in the quality argument, but surely they can check incoming parts? Hand check everything, do the luxury quality thing etc.

Absolutely!

But branded parts are more valuable for customers (I mean that type of customers).

Especially if it's the core of the product and unlike Apple that sells billions of devices, Ferraris are produced in the thousands and there's a waiting list to buy one.

> And the Apple experience worked just fine during the Intel MacBook phase.

That was the compromise they made to transition to a fully owned pipeline.

But as a soon as they were ready to do the switch, they did it.

Exactly what Ferrari has done with the SF90 stradale.

> "unique, hand-crafted batteries lovingly labored over by the best people in the industry doing nothing but supplying Ferrari and looking back at X years of tradition". And honestly, it just sounds like pride to me (not that pride is always a bad thing).

You are absolutely right.

Pride is not a bad thing and that's their main selling point.

The two things are are not mutually exclusive.

I specifically said they are not doing it because they believe Italy is the best place in the World, but because by controlling their core components, they can kepp the "Ferrari pride" (TM by me) alive and consequentially the made in Italy brand something to pay premium prices for.

The fact that I, as an Italian and a Ferrari fan think that Ferrari is something to be proud of, is tangential.

They are most of all Emiliano Romagnoli, that has more in common with Switzerland and Germany than Italy economically wise, but has the heart of Italian people (and great food).

That's what you are buying when you buy a Ferrari, together with the car.

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