Premcar turns 30 in 2026. To celebrate, we’re sharing some of our carmaking knowledge. This time, it’s about the Ferrari F40, and how to bring cars to market.
The Ferrari F40 supercar has been in the media recently.
Not because of any new record sale price.
The carmaker’s star F1 driver was captured on video doing donuts in one.
Lewis Hamilton stunned car fans at the Daikoku Parking Area, Japan’s famous car hangout, when he showed up in an F40 with Kim Kardashian, and started cutting skids.
But that’s not the interesting part.
The interesting bit is it’s resurfaced many of the great stories surrounding Ferrari’s first ‘F’ car.
The F40 is the most celebrated modern Ferrari road car.
It was created to commemorate Ferrari’s 40th anniversary.
It was the 1980s poster car next to the Porsche 959.
Its classic lines, simplicity and raw power represent the best of ‘old Ferrari’.
It was also the final road car Enzo personally approved for production.
For carmakers, it’s a reminder of the utopian way to bring a car to market.
Enzo appointed Nicholas Materazzi, the car’s chief engineer, to lead the program.
Materazzi got to choose his own small development team.
He reported directly to Enzo, and nobody else.
And the best bit? No bureaucracy.
“Enzo allowed me to progress on my own, without wasting time in meetings to share decision-making,” he once told Wheels magazine.
Anyone who’s driven a new-car development program can only dream of this arrangement.
Meetings, reports and explanations can feel endless inside a new-car program.
They’re all necessary, but it can feel like driving with the handbrake on.
Global automakers are big in every way, including bureaucracy.
It’s an inescapable part of any multinational company.
But the F40 story shows us to always simplify and shorten.
Simplify every internal process.
Shorten (but don’t corner-cut) every step from sketch to showroom.
Materazzi and his team brought the F40 to life in just over a year.
Production ended up being more than triple the original 400 units.
And it was a hit. It still is.
It’s remains one of Ferrari’s all-time greats.
And a beacon of development simplicity for every carmaker.
Respect the processes, BUT…
NEVER sophisticate or complicate car development programs.
That’s just wasteful vanity.
Simpler is always better.
Bernie Quinn, CEO of Premcar
About Premcar:
Premcar Pty Ltd is a leading Australian vehicle engineering business that specialises in the automotive, defence and aerospace industries. For 30 years, global car-makers have made Premcar their go-to partner for the complete design, engineering and manufacture of niche-model new cars, full-scale new-vehicle development programs, and electric vehicle (EV) conversions and manufacturing. Premcar’s body of work is extensive. It is the name behind more than 200,000 new cars and 55,000 new-vehicle engines. The company has delivered technical advancements and sales success for major car brands from Europe, the USA, Japan, China and Australia. Visit premcar.au.
