Fezza Up On Their High Horse

There's no such thing as a slow news day in Maranello. Ferrari consistently court controversy with the styling and pricing of their road cars, their questionable attitude to journalists, dodgy theme parks, and their behaviour in their flagship brand-builder: Formula One.

Most of you by now will be aware of the funny-if-it-wasn't-so-pathetic dispute that's been simmering in the past few weeks between Modena's greatest export and the mighty Ford Motor Company, who took issue with Ferrari's decision to christen their 2011 F1 contender 'Ferrari F150'. Disregarding the fact this was a tribute to the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, Ford were rather unhappy about Ferrari muscling in on their nomenclature territory, as they've had an F150 line of pick-up trucks since 1948.

It's a predictable cliché to say that Americans are always game for a law suit, but in this case Ford lived up to the stereotype absolutely, bringing charges against Ferrari for infringing Ford's ownership of the F150 name, with justification which boiled down to the possibility that the two cars may become confused, which could upset consumers.

Of course this met with much ridicule on the web, as Ford tried to prove that a two-and-a-half ton Yank tank could be mistaken for a carbon fibre racing car.

Nevertheless Ferrari caved in in the face of a potentially expensive and embarrassing legal dispute, and changed then name of Alonso's new company car to 'Ferrari F150th Italia.' Ford then dropped the law suit, Ferrari got on with developing their new track-honed beast in preparation for the Australian Grand Prix on March 27th, and the internet scorners' chuckling at the absurdity of the whole issue died away.



Spot the difference...





This morning however, Ferrari seems to have gone out of its way to really stick two fingers up to Ford, and its home market, by launching an astonishing attack on Americans in general on the official Scuderia website. This came to my attention in a minor Autocar website article but I was so astounded by the language of the statement, I went over to the official Ferrari Formula One site to see it for myself, and what follows is a direct quotation from their thoughts on the matter:

"...the affair relating to the name of the car with which Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will tackle this year’s Formula 1 World Championship saw its final and decisive episode played out these past few days with the concomitant withdrawal by Ford of the summons. Therefore common sense has prevailed.

In order to avoid the slightest risk of anyone confusing a Formula 1 car with a pick-up truck, for their part, the men from Maranello have decided that the car will lose the F that precedes the number 150 and which stands for Ferrari, as it has done on numerous occasions when it’s come to giving a car a code name, be it for the race track or the road. It appears that this could have caused so much confusion in the minds of the consumer across the Pond that, at the same time as losing the F, the name will be completely Italianised, replacing the English “th” with the equivalent Italian symbol.

Therefore the name will now read as the Ferrari 150° Italia, which should make it clear even to the thickest of people that the name of the car is a tribute to the anniversary of the unification of our country. Let’s hope the matter is now definitely closed and that we can concentrate on other matters, namely ensuring that our car that already seems to be pretty good out of the box, becomes a real winner."



Great 'of the box'? Ferrari fanning the flames yet again...



If you've just reread that several times, I don't blame you. If you think I'm spreading scandalous propaganda and want to see the article for yourself, do, by all means, here. Scuderia Ferrari article this way What a way to 'close the matter.'

...maybe they need to cool off a little.

It's becoming quite a week for ill-judged car company statements. Following the potential death of the Evo let slip at Geneva, Ferrari's publication of this thinly-veiled tirade on the intelligence of all those 'across the Pond', not just in Ford's legal department, is nigh-on unbelievable.

I'm aware and grateful that this blog has a substantial following in the United States, (thanks guys), it is after all one of the world's great motor industry powers. When I initially heard of the Ford versus Ferrari law suit I saw Ford's point about the copyright infringement, but also thought their reasoning that the F1 car would cause 'confusion' faintly ludicrous. This subsequent generalized scorn of the American market does provoke my sympathies though, and it looks like another PR disaster for the Italians.

Whether you see it as hilarious, offensive, deserved by Ford or unacceptable by Ferrari will no doubt depend on your particular nationality or allegiance in the world of cars. It seems however that behind the sharp suits and smug smiles paraded around at the launch of the FF, both at Ferrari and then publicly at Geneva, Fezza have lost none of their touch for whipping up an international storm over the winter motorsport break. And all when the matter appeared to be dead and buried!

SPLAT

Then again, it could merely be a cynical repost to another recent incident where Ferrari and Ford's finest came to blows Stateside, and in this instance, it was Ford who came out, quite literally, on top.

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