Louis Camilleri, shown in February, started implementing a plan to turn Ferrari into a luxury-goods brand.
Photo: Italy Photo Press/Zuma Press
MILAN—Ferrari NV Chief Executive Louis Camilleri resigned unexpectedly from the Italian luxury sports-car maker after being hospitalized for Covid-19.
On Thursday, Mr. Camilleri also resigned with immediate effect as chairman of Philip Morris International Inc. where he had been employed for four decades. Mr. Camilleri, 65, has left the hospital and is finishing his recovery at home, according to a person familiar with the situation. Ferrari said he had resigned for unspecified personal reasons.
John Elkann, Ferrari’s chairman and the head of the Italian family that owns a controlling stake in the car marker, will take over as CEO until a permanent replacement can be found. Mr. Camilleri is also resigning from Ferrari’s board.
Mr. Camilleri, took over Ferrari in July 2018 after Sergio Marchionne died from complications linked to surgery. Mr. Marchionne had come to symbolize both Ferrari and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles FCAU 0.97% NV, where he was also CEO. The freewheeling Mr. Marchionne, a larger-than-life figure who reigned over the car industry for years, left Mr. Camilleri a tough act to follow.
Because Mr. Camilleri had no car-industry experience when he took over Ferrari, many insiders assumed he would be a place holder CEO until a permanent replacement could be found. Yet he stayed on and had begun to leave his mark on Ferrari. He had started implementing a plan to turn Ferrari into a luxury-goods brand producing a range of products from cars to apparel and leather accessories.
He also had been tasked with steering Ferrari toward the production of electric vehicles, a move that was both inevitable and full of potential potholes. Ferrari has long distinguished itself through its stylish exteriors and interiors, but especially by its engine, something that will be less of a factor in electric cars. In an interview last year, his first after becoming CEO, he said batteries would be where Ferrari could again establish its dominance.
To those who questioned why a tobacco industry executive had been given the reins of a car marker, Mr. Camilleri noted his experience working in an industry that had also gone through massive and rapid transformation. Mr. Camilleri had also been an independent director on Ferrari’s board since 2015 and was good friends with Mr. Marchionne, who served on the board of Philip Morris.
Under Mr. Camilleri’s leadership, Ferrari continued a long string of strong financial results.
If there has been a black mark on his time at Ferrari, it has been the inability of the company’s Formula One racing team to return to its winning ways. The current season, which wraps up with a final race this weekend, has been particularly disappointing for Formula One’s most storied team. Mr. Marchionne often spoke of the importance of having a winning Ferrari racing team to help sustain the company’s brand.
Mr. Camilleri was chairman and CEO of Philip Morris International from 2008 to 2013 and after that remained as a nonemployee chairman.
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Appeared in the December 11, 2020, print edition as ‘Ferrari Chief Steps Down.’
