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Ferrari set to hit new sales goal early to boost profits

As much as some of us would like to believe otherwise, building cars is a business. Most automakers are out to sell as many cars as they can build, chasing ever growing sales and profits. Ferrari is playing a different sort of game. For years, the Italian automaker has artificially limited the number of cars it produces. But the company does have plans to ramp up production to 9,000 units a year. According to Automotive News, Ferrari will hit that goal in 2018, a full year earlier than expected. A report says that in 2018, Ferrari will double the number of shifts at its plants. Sometime next year, Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne is expected to announce the automaker's first SUV, a vehicle that's sure to push that 9,000-unit limit to the max. SUV sales are up across the board. The number-one selling models at companies like Porsche, Jaguar and Lexus are all SUVs. The goal is to double profits to $2.35 billion by 2022. Limiting total output has a two-fold benefit. First, it maintains a level of exclusivity and prestige, making the cars more desirable. Secondly, it allows Ferrari to operate under different fuel economy and emissions standards than larger, mainstream automakers. It's difficult to hit some goals like that when your "entry-level" model is powered by a 591-horsepower twin-turbocharged V8. Related Video:

NHTSA fines Ferrari $3.5 million for missing reports

Ferrari will pay a $3.5 million penalty for family to comply with oversight requirements set forth by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The federal agency that oversees road safety in the United States announced Friday morning that Ferrari had not submitted early warning reports for the past three years. These reports help the agency identify potential or existing safety threats.
In the wake of the rolling recalls for defective General Motors ignition switches, there has been considerable scrutiny of NHTSA's handling - or mishandling - of these early warning reports. Friday's fine is an indication the agency is taking its enforcement mandates more seriously, albeit against a manufacturer that has no large-scale presence on American roads.

Would you pay $2 million for a Ferrari F50? [w/video]

The F50 may not have been the finest of Ferrari's flagship supercars, but it remains a collector's commodity just the same – and its value keeps rising. F50s are already trading hands at upwards of $1 million apiece – and this year, at least one is expected to fetch upwards of $2.5 million. Ferrari launched the F50 in 1995 as the successor to the legendary F40 that came before. It eschewed the twin-turbo V8 that powered the 288 GTO and F40 for a naturally aspirated V12, setting the stage for the Enzo and LaFerrari that followed in the series. That high-revving 4.7-liter engine, according to Ferrari, was derived from the unit used in the actual F1 car from 1989 (known as the F1-89, naturally). This engine served as a stressed member of the chassis, mounted behind a carbon-fiber tub. With its removable hardtop, the F50 remains the only model in Maranello's flagship series (excluding the Enzo-based Maserati MC12) that offered an open cockpit. It was all very F1-like, but was barely any faster (if at all) than its iconic predecessor. Only 349 F50s were made, each carrying a half-million-dollar price tag. That would be a good $750k in today's money. Still, it is part of a highly collectible series. Only 349 were made, each carrying a half-million-dollar price tag that seemed astronomic at the time in the mid-'90s. That'd be about $750k in today's money, but it's still a far cry from what they're trading at these days. Last year alone, RM Sotheby's sold two F50s at auction: one in May at Villa d'Este for just under $1.4 million, and another at Pebble Beach (as part of the Pinnacle Portfolio) for nearly $2m. This compared to just a few years ago when they were selling for six figures, not seven, prior to 2013. At this early point in the year, two major auction houses have already announced consignments of F50s. RM has one (pictured above) on the docket that's estimated to sell for a good $1.5m. It's sure to be one of the top sellers in a couple of weeks at its sale in Paris during the Salon Retromobile (where Artcurial has another Ferrari for sale at over $30m). Gooding & Company has one lined up as part of the Tony Shooshani Collection. That example (depicted in the video below) was displayed at the 1995 Tokyo Motor Show and was owned by Jacques Swaters (of Ecurie Francorchamps fame). It has only 1,100 miles on the odometer and is expected to fetch between $2.5m and $2.9m, which would set a new record for the model.