Ferrari CEO: "Why We Like Korea? Powerful Technology and Speed of Action"

"Asia Becomes More Important to Us"
300 Billion Won Invested in New Factory Construction

Benedetto Vigna, CEO of Ferrari, the epitome of luxury sports cars, stated, "The Asian market, including Korea, Japan, and China, has become more important to us in terms of technology and customer base."

On the 21st (local time), Vigna held a Q&A session with media from around the world at the inauguration ceremony of Ferrari's new 'e-building' factory located in Maranello, Italy, Ferrari's headquarters. In response to a question about the "evaluation and strategy for the Asian market," he said, "There are differences in market characteristics among Asian countries," adding, "The reason we like Korea is its strong technology sector and the speed of action in the business environment."

Ferrari e-Building established in Maranello, Italy
[Photo by Ferrari]

He mentioned Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, and Indonesia, saying, "Our brand awareness is increasing in Asia, which depends on our marketing efforts and product launches," indicating plans to strengthen marketing activities in the region. He further emphasized, "Although there are challenging issues such as taxes that could affect our business, Asia is an important market in terms of both demand and supply."

CEO Vigna also emphasized Ferrari's unique management strategy and principle of "value over volume." He explained, "We invested 200 million euros (about 300 billion KRW) in building the e-building," adding, "The main purpose of this new factory is not to increase production volume but to improve the efficiency and flexibility of the manufacturing process." Although the e-building is designed to produce internal combustion engine vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and electric vehicles, he implied that production volume would not be drastically increased as a result. He added, "The key tool for expanding sales revenue is personalization of the customer base," meaning Ferrari will focus on developing and producing models that better suit consumer preferences.

Benedetto Vigna, CEO of Ferrari, is giving a greeting at the inauguration ceremony of the e-building in Maranello, Italy, on the 21st (local time).
[Photo by Yonhap News]

CEO Vigna said, "We want to acquire more technologies and tools to meet customers' increasing personalization demands," and "This factory will help shorten time to market and product development time."

Regarding the operation plan for the e-building, he elaborated, "We plan to mix three types of engines in the future to serve various types of customers," and "It will also be used to produce hybrid and internal combustion engine models."

Ferrari has completed and started operating the 'e-building,' which will produce internal combustion engine cars, hybrid cars, and Ferrari's first electric vehicle. The first electric vehicle is scheduled to be unveiled in the fourth quarter of next year, but specific models and production volumes have not been disclosed. Ferrari plans to equip this electric vehicle with battery cells from several battery manufacturers, including Korea's SK On. Last year, Ferrari delivered about 13,000 vehicles worldwide, a 3.3% increase compared to the previous year, and it is known that the waiting period for some popular models reaches up to two years.