Intro: Without doubt, one of the world’s most glamorous motor manufacturers is Ferrari. Eponymously named after its founder, Signor Enzo Ferrari, who became known as ’Il Commendatore’, ruled over the firm with a rod of iron. Although Enzo had spent almost twenty years working for other Italian car producers, before settling with Alfa Romeo between the two World Wars, his name and prancing horse emblem were used to denote the Alfa Romeo factory racing team. Auto-Avio Costruzioni di Ferrari Enzo commenced trading in Modena, northern Italy, in 1939. However, the first car to bear the family name was not produced at Maranello until 1947. All the time, Enzo used the road car development as a means to support his fascination for motor racing and Ferrari is still the one manufacturer team in the world to have contested every Grand Prix. By the early-1950s, Ferrari was selling around fifty cars a year. Yet, by the 1980s, around 2,500 cars were sold world-wide. Although every new road-going Ferrari, built in the first twenty years of the company’s existence, was powered by a front-mounted, 60-degree V12 engine, the next twenty years saw a proliferation of V6, V8 and V12 models, some of which had turbochargers fitted, but all of which were guaranteed to provide a shot of adrenalin like no others. There was even an attempt to create a brand new line of cars, to be known as Dino (which never carried the Ferrari badge) that were powered by a sweet 2.4-litre V6 engine mounted amidships. In 1969, Ferrari sold half of his company to the Fiat Corporation. When he died in 1988, the Torinese giant took overall control.
Ferrari had its best period during the late 1990s, early 2000s. By 2005 it bagged several Formula 1 championships and offers a great, and popular range of products. |
