Ferrari SpA, Fiat SpA’s most profitable unit, will target wealthy families and golf bag toting sports-car enthusiasts when it introduces the four-seat FF, the first Ferrari with four-wheel drive.
Ferrari aims to build 800 of the FF annually, with the first year of production already sold out, Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said in Geneva today. The car will be priced at 260,000 euros ($359,000). “Four-wheel drive is a revolution for Ferrari,” said Fabio Barone, 38, chairman of the Passione Rossa owners’ club, who has two Ferraris. “You can finally drive a real Ferrari, with its extreme performance, to take your family skiing.”
“Supercar sales are growing amid renewed optimism in the finance industry after the U.S. economy expanded 2.9 percent last year, the most in five years. U.S. sales of the world’s most expensive cars, a category that includes Ferraris and spans sticker prices from $200,000 to $400,000, may surge 146 percent this year after dropping 40 percent in 2010, according to Lexington, Massachusetts-based IHS Automotive. Lamborghini unveiled its Aventador supercar at the Geneva Motor Show.
The car will be the Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy-based carmaker’s most powerful series production vehicle ever. The Aventador, which has an engine that surges to 100 kilometers per hour in 2.9 seconds, will replace the Volkswagen AG brand’s top-of-the-line Murcielago. The supercar, priced at $370,000, is also sold out for its first year of production. Ferrari in 2010 posted a 13 percent increase in sales in the U.S., the biggest market for supercars. Employees at big Wall Street banks continued to outpace other professions in earnings even as they took modest pay cuts in 2010.
Via 4WheelsNews
