Porsche and Ferrari lose senior engineering talent on the same day; should we be worried?
"Cannot tell you how much I will miss being summoned to Felisa's Maranello office to be told HOW IT WAS. Man was pure class and real Ferrari." So Tweeted Chris Harris yesterday after hearing Amedeo Felisa has stepped aside from Ferrari's CEO role to permit
Sergio Marchionne's accession. You don't get to the top of Ferrari without knowing how to play corporate politics but, unlike Marchionne, Felisa is an engineer by training and understands the cars as nuts and bolts as well as commodities. With that came authority, as Harris so vividly describes.
Moers at AMG - an engineer at heart
is a similar example - he's now in charge of the brand but an engineer at heart and, for over two decades, the man who set the tone of the product. As a businessman he'll make the case for hot SUVs and 'entry-level' '43 models in the product portfolio. As a car nut he'll tell you his favoured transport from the office is an
AMG GT R development mule or a C63.
Yesterday also saw Wolfgang Hatz's departure from Porsche. Another engineering 'big beast', Hatz cut his engineering teeth at BMW with the S14 engine for the E30 M3 before making his mark on a generation of road and race Porsches. Whether it was the 918 Spyder or Porsche winning at Le Mans, Hatz was at the centre of the action. His seniority also gave him a certain amount of freedom to tell us what the hell he liked, when he liked. I got the impression he enjoyed seeing the PRs squirm as much as we did.
'Don't call me Mr GTI' says VW's Schebsdat
The celebrity engineer is a relatively recent phenomenon but a valuable asset for the manufacturers lucky enough to have them on their staff. For someone of a PH mindset meeting a person like Hatz is akin to hanging out with your favourite actor or musician; it's hard not to be a little star struck but the ice is quickly broken when you realise they're proper car nuts at heart.
Of course, for every R&D boss elevated to star status there are hundreds, if not thousands, working with them. Quite probably equally personable too, just not in the fortunate position of escaping the day job to hang out on car launches for a couple of days with fanboy journalists. Indeed, when I met Golf GTI Clubsport chief engineer Karsten Schebsdat he was resolute I wasn't to paint him as 'Mr GTI'. Modest or not, he too has a formidable background as a chassis engineer at Porsche and, over a beer or two, is happy to indulge in some geeky chat about the cars he's worked on.
Motor shows won't be as interesting post-Hatz
There are probably a few corporate suits breathing a sigh of relief at the passing of big hitters like Hatz and his ilk, hoping they can keep their successors on a tighter leash. I hope not though. An eloquent engineer free and able to communicate with the enthusiast audience like us is a vital asset, something British brands like Aston Martin, McLaren, Lotus, JLR, Bentley and others readily appreciate. If nothing else it makes for more interesting dinner conversation than sales projections and market share.
Dan
