Ferrari has a new CEO as Amedeo Felisa retires

Ferrari has a new CEO. Amedeo Felisa is retiring after 26 years at the Maranello carmaker, eight of them as Chief Executive Officer.

Current chairman Sergio Marchionne steps into his office, taking on CEO as an additional role. He’s also in charge of Fiat Chrysler, so his daily to-do list is about to get quite a bit longer.

Felisa, meanwhile, will continue to serve on Ferrari’s board of directors, as a technical advisor to the company.

Over to Marchionne: “I have known Amedeo for more than a decade and I have had the opportunity to work with him closely for the last two years. 

“He is beyond any doubt one of the best automotive engineers in the world. During the last 26 years, he has worked tirelessly to fuel and guide Ferrari’s technical development, producing an array of cars which have set the standard for both performance and styling.”

Marchionne takes over with immediate effect, on the same day that a record first quarter of sales have been announced. Ferrari has sold 1,882 cars since the turn of the year, up 15 per cent on the same period in 2015.

While sales of Ferrari’s V12 models were down a tad – the LaFerrari’s completed production run and the end of the FF’s life key factors – there was an increase of 21 per cent in V8 sales, thanks to the arrival of the 488 GTB and its Spider variant.

It’s all a strong indicator the company will have another record year of sales, with the GTC4 Lusso arriving to boost the V12 numbers back up. No pressure then, Sergio…