Ferrari Building Branded Respirator Valves to Fight Coronavirus

Years ago, your humble author was in Los Angeles for the auto show, finding his cellphone suddenly dead. He stumbled into a nearby mall while Verizon’s techs worked their magic, then wandered through the Ferrari store, amazed at how much stuff the iconic exotic brand could slap its badging on.

While you almost certainly won’t be able to buy the retail, and certainly you wouldn’t want to acquire one by being a COVID-19 patient, there will be Ferrari-branded respirator valves.

Note that competitor Lamborghini has already produced branded face masks and medical shields.

The Prancing Horse’s valves are made of thermoplastic parts and will be assembled in Maranello, where prototype Ferraris are usually developed. Diving equipment manufacturer Mares has developed some of these masks. Those will be used on patients struggling with respiratory failure.

Ferrari will supply other fittings to Solid Energy, which then will turn snorkeling masks into protective shields for healthcare workers.

The Italian automaker plans to make and distribute several hundred pieces of equipment for patients in Bergamo, Genoa, Modena, and Sassuolo; and for healthcare workers in Medicina. The Italian Civil Protection government agency will help with distribution.

It would be easy for me to poke fun at Ferrari for branding medical equipment, but, while that may seem tacky, that decision is superseded by the company’s choice to do what it can to help. Helping patients and medical professionals get the gear they need is too important to worry about whether the automaker is slapping its logo on the component parts or not.

We can always make fun of those who have more money than taste when the pandemic is over and they’re out driving around in rented exotics with wrists adorned with gaudy Ferrari-branded wristwatches. Or we can re-watch Netflix’s “Tiger King” and pick on that one guy from the later episodes. If you’ve seen it, you know who I mean. No spoilers here.

Until then, good on Ferrari for lending a hand.

[Image: Scuderia Ferrari]