Confirmed: special Ferrari for 60th anniversary in USA

It’s been a busy week for Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezmolo. First he announced his resignation (effective from October) from the Italian sports car firm after 23 years at the helm.

Then he proclaimed record financial results for Ferrari for the first six months of 2014 (£101.4 million profit) before declaring a special Ferrari model will be unveiled in October to celebrate 60 years of the Prancing Horse in America.

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Ferrari confirmed the “special car” will be revealed at a “special event”. However, di Montezemolo was a little looser lipped:

“To celebrate Ferrari’s 60th year in the USA, we have developed a special car of which just 10 examples will be built, in addition to planning a major event in Los Angeles to bring together all our American clients and collectors, and a charity initiative.”

Ferrari began trading in America in 1954 before creating an alliance with Luigi Chinetti, the man behind the North American Racing Team or NART – the organisation developed to promote the Ferrari marque in the US.

It’s thought the 60th anniversary model will be based on current car in the Ferrari range – potentially the F12berlinetta – in a similar fashion to the 2012 China 20 Ferrari 458 Italia special edition, pictured above.

Ferrari is America’s largest market, with sales having grown by 13% in the last six months, helping the brand to achieve incredible global revenue of £1.07 billion in the first half of this year.

These impressive financial results are despite Ferrari delivering only 3,631 cars between January and July, a 3.6% reduction on last year.

It’s no secret that di Montezemolo is a great fan of Ferrari exclusivity, capping production numbers at 7,000 units per year and still increasing Ferrari’s profitability over previous years in 2013.

Although it is thought the Ferrari Formula One team’s relatively poor results over the last few seasons were a contributing factor in di Montezemolo’s decision to resign, the fact that boss of Ferrari’s parent company Fiat, Sergio Marchionne, wants to increase production numbers at Maranello to 10,000 units per year could also have had a bearing on the outcome.

Marchinonne is known for his lofty production targets, aiming to boost sales of other Fiat-owned companies Alfa Romeo and Maserati to 500,000 units by the end of 2014, and 50,000 units by the end of 2015 respectively.

Although Ferrari claims production numbers will catch up in the second half of the year, with 2014 deliveries predicted to rise by 5%, it will still fall inline with di Montezemolo’s policy of exclusivity by demand for its car exceeding supply – not Marchionne’s stack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap more mainstream philosophy.

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By motoringresearch.com