05/03/2011
NEWS STORY
Having settled its legal dispute with Ford, Ferrari has further modified the name of its 2011 challenger.
It was revealed yesterday that Ford and Ferrari had amicably settled their dispute over the Italian outfit's use of the name F150 for its 2011 car.
In the US District Court in Detroit, the two parties reached an agreement though few details were made public. "We are pleased we were able resolve this issue amicably," a Ford spokeswoman told The Detroit News. "This resolution ensures that Ford's famous and distinctive F-150 trademark will be protected."
Despite Ford's assurance that the matter was settled amicably, Ferrari's notorious Horse Whisperer has raised his head yet again, and whilst confirming a slight modification to the Maranello outfit's 2011 car takes a clear swipe at the American giant.
"It might seem like a Kafkaesque scenario, but the affair relating to the name of the car with which Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will tackle this year's Formula 1 World Championship saw its final and decisive episode played out these past few days with the concomitant withdrawal by Ford of the summons. Therefore common sense has prevailed," he writes.
"In order to avoid the slightest risk of anyone confusing a Formula 1 car with a pick-up truck, for their part, the men from Maranello have decided that the car will lose the F that precedes the number 150 and which stands for Ferrari, as it has done on numerous occasions when it's come to giving a car a code name, be it for the race track or the road. It appears that this could have caused so much confusion in the minds of the consumer across the Pond that, at the same time as losing the F, the name will be completely Italianised, replacing the English "th" with the equivalent Italian symbol.
"Therefore the name will now read as the Ferrari 150° Italia, which should make it clear even to the thickest of people that the name of the car is a tribute to the anniversary of the unification of our country. Let's hope the matter is now definitely closed and that we can concentrate on more serious matters, namely ensuring that our car that already seems to be pretty good out of the box, becomes a real winner."
Touche... or whatever its equivalent in Italian might be.