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Exclusive interview with Juergen Obermann

2011-04-12 16:37

Juergen Obermann, IT specialist and car-lover, is about to launch his exclusive Club Type-41 at Top Marques. We caught him en route for this week's prestigious event.



First up, we wanted to know how you first became involved with the world of fast (and beautiful) cars.

"I spend most of my professional life working for various IT firms such as Cisco Systems and Lucent doing sales and marketing.  My passion for cars started probably when I was 10 and saw a Porsche 911 2.7 RS in my very small home town in Germany – I just loved the look of that car.  Later on, I wasn't interested in flashy cars, but real driving machines. I’ve owned a Ferrari Challenge Stradale, a F430 Scuderia, a Lamborghini Gallardo and a Porsche GT2 amongst others.  I learned the hard way that having these cars was great, but a big headache at the same time.  When my busy schedule allowed, I'd often head to the garage to go for a spin on a Sunday afternoon, only to find the battery was flat.  After jump-starting the car all the electronics would need resetting...and I would spend a good chunk of my spare time getting the car back to shape".

Type 41 – that's a Bugatti marque of course, and with your own particular penchant for Ferraris, we have to ask: what is it about Italian cars?

"I personally like driver’s cars, meaning cars you can really drive hard on B roads or on a track – like the F430 Scuderia or Ferrari Challenge, for example.  These cars are fantastic street racers. You drive to the race track, drive all day and then take the car and drive home.  Italian cars for me are all about passion and beautiful design and a great sound.  What I loved about my Lamborghini Gallardo was the fact that it combined true Italian passion and design with German-quality control.  It was the most usable supercar I’ve owned so far."



With a background in IT, and specifically IT data security, you do a lot of travelling. What kind of technologies do you take with you in the car or the plane?

I'm a big Apple fan, I had my first Apple Laptop back in the early 90's when they still looked like bricks and didn’t have such a cult status.  I use an iPhone for my private affairs, but prefer a Blackberry for business (I type better with real keyboards).  I usually also take my Powerbook with me on planes.

With the economic crisis still hurting, have your recent travels convinced you that the supercar is becoming an endangered species? TheType 41 club could end up being VERY exclusive!

In my view, the crisis had an interesting effect on the automobile industry.  The very low end and the very high end are actually booming, but the middle is pretty flat.  If you look at Ferrari, they still have waiting lists for their cars and every single limited edition car is sold by the time the model is announced – this is also true for other brands.  However, the way people look at owners of these cars has also changed.  The other day I listened to an interview with an investment banker from London. When the talk came to cars he went to great length to point out that he was driving a small and economical car.  Two years ago, investment bankers were the top client group for Ferrari, Aston Martin etc.  This is where our club really starts to make sense – members can drive a Smart car at home and an F599 GTO when on holiday on the Côte d'Azur.

You're based in Monaco now. Apart from the obvious, what are the attractions for you and your family of life on the Côte d'Azur?

We've been living in the area from 1996 and enjoyed the good weather and buzzing atmosphere. Now we are a mixed (English, German) family which makes us more multi-cultural already. However, if I look at one of my son's school classes there are 22 pupils from 17 different nations.  I believe that growing up in such an environment is very special, and for us, it’s one of the great attractions of the area.