This article was written by Bertrand Benoit, Ben Hall and Dan Roberts
and appeared in the Financial Times of 20 Jan 2004

Climb into the latest Ferrari sports car and you are unlikely to notice the modifications designed with overweight, arthritic pensioners in mind. The $660,000 Enzo can accelerate to 60mph in less than four seconds before reaching a top speed of 217mph - enough to test any cardiac pacemaker to the limit.

But the Italian carmaker is just one of many companies grappling with a demographic shift that challenges the fundamental rules of marketing and design. Outside the gates of its Maranello factory, the average age of consumers in Italy, as in much of Europe, is set to rise sharply as birth rates fall and affluent "baby boomers" live longer. Inside, engineers cherish a sporty product whose virile brand depends on images of youthful drivers haring around Formula One racetracks.

In contrast to F1 drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, both in their thirties, the average buyer of a Ferrari road car is nearing 50 and set to get older. Car designers are responding by enlarging the space available for a driver's spreading backside, and sparing his knees (they are almost always men) with changes to the door height. The trick is that no one must be able to tell.

"The profile of our customers means we have to pay attention to practicality and functionality without compromising the sportiness," says Giuseppe Bonollo, strategic marketing director. "There are some engineering choices you can make which give you better accessibility and internal roominess. The way the doors open on the Ferrari Enzo, for example, allows part of the roof and part of the door undermoulding to come away as well, making it easier to enter the car." The improved comfort of a modern Ferrari means the average distance driven by its owner has doubled from 2,500 miles a year in 1990 to 5,000 miles today.

In the mass market, there is less disguising the modifications made for ageing consumers. General Motors recently pioneered a "Sit-n-Lift" motorised chairlift as an accessory on its minivans. Ford designers adapt door handles, dashboard lighting and other fittings with the help of an "empathy suit" to simulate driving with arthritis, cataracts or a stiff neck.

Yet the more explicit companies are about their consideration for ageing consumers, the more likely they are to fail. Nobody likes to be patronised or pigeon-holed and - more than perhaps any generation before - the people turning 60 this decade are unlikely to be attracted by products that remind them of their age.