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"         If you were to ask who currently has the longest tenure as the he was named to the top spot at , few gave this prot\u00E9g\u00E9 of Fiat Auto scion Gianni Agnelli a chance of lasting more than a couple of years, much less 17.   Montezemolo trained as a lawyer and first joined Ferrari in 1973 as an assistant to Enzo Ferrari before taking over the management of the Formula 1 team from 1974\u201375. He moved on in the Fiat empire, worked in external relations and then helped organize the Azzurra, Italy&amp;#039;s first challenge for the America&amp;#039;s Cup. He also headed the committee that hosted soccer&amp;#039;s World Cup finals in 1990. So, naturally, his appointment to run Ferrari just over three years after the passing of the company&amp;#039;s founder was met with a fair share of skepticism.   I first met Montezemolo in August 1992 when Ferrari was the featured marque at the Monterey Historics. We had scheduled a 10 a.m. interview; however, his handlers hadn&amp;#039;t figured on the massive traffic jam that occurs at Laguna Seca whenever the featured marque is Ferrari or . He was more than two hours late, but always remembers that I had waited to talk with him.   Even then, it was apparent beneath the Italian warmth and flair that Montezemolo is an impatient man, one who expects results. The company he had taken over in the early 1990s was as moribund as the exotic market in which it competed. The exuberance that fueled used Ferrari prices in the late 1980s, and helped to spawn a new supercar industry that featured the likes of the Jaguar XJ220 and Bugatti EB110, had collapsed along with the world&amp;#039;s economy.   Ferrari&amp;#039;s road cars had aged \u2014 the Testarossa had been introduced in 1984, while the 348 was primarily an evolution of the 308, which had been introduced way back in 1975. The only bright spot just prior to Montezemolo had been the limited-run . Ferrari&amp;#039;s culture had been one in which road cars were secondary, used largely to fund Enzo&amp;#039;s true passion, Grand Prix racing. As a result, innovation for the passenger cars was slow in coming and the cars were often criticized for being outdated and difficult to drive.   Montezemolo sought to change all that. He put the road-car business on equal footing with the racing program. Both would have to stand on their own. His first major project was the F355, introduced in 1994 and essentially a major reworking of the 348. Still, Montezemolo&amp;#039;s insistence on better driveability paid dividends. The F355 launch also heralded the institution of a regular product development cycle that would result in complete model changes every four or five years instead of once a decade or more.   The other change was in the racing program. No longer was it just good enough to be part of the Formula 1 circus \u2014 Montezemolo insisted that Ferrari must win. For that he installed Jean Todt as team manager and signed , fresh off his back-to-back world championships with Benetton. Since winning the manufacturer&amp;#039;s title in 1999, Ferrari has been a force to reckon with in Formula 1 \u2014 winning eight of the last 10 manufacturers&amp;#039; cups and six out of the last nine drivers&amp;#039; crowns.   Even though Ferrari builds approximately 6400 cars per year and competes in the most esoteric of sports, Montezemolo has built it into a brand powerhouse with four pillars: the road cars, the Formula 1 racing team, programs designed to enhance the ownership experience (including factory-sponsored rallies and races for new and old cars) and Ferrari-branded merchandise sold through company-owned boutiques worldwide.   But perhaps his proudest accomplishment is his approach to the Ferrari factory itself. The transformation at Maranello is nothing short of amazing. The old main gate on Via Abetone is now the back door of this sprawling complex that now houses some of the most advanced manufacturing processes designed to make car-building friendly to man and environment alike. Called Formula Uomo (Formula Man), this philosophy integrates lighting, green areas, climate control and noise suppression to provide the best possible working conditions for employees and, as altruistic as this approach sounds, the bottom line is more productivity.   Given the current uncertain economic climate, small iconic marques like Ferrari and even giants like General Motors are at risk. But as recent history has proven, it is best not to underestimate the impact one man like Montezemolo can have. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a14709/ferraris-unlikely-hero/>