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Ferrari threatening to fine journalists $69,000 for breaking LaFerrari embargo?

In automotive journalism, we deal with embargoes on a regular basis. For the uninitiated, these are agreements between publications like Autoblog and manufacturers. While news embargoes (where pubs are provided with information and images and agree to hold until a predetermined date) are fairly common, today, we're focusing on drive embargoes. These are what we generally end up signing when we attend a vehicle launch. Generally, these are in the media's best interest. As drive programs are spread out over a week or two with multiple different "waves" of media, drive embargoes put the biggest and smallest publications on level footing when it comes to publishing reviews.
According to a report from Autocar's Steve Sutcliffe, Ferrari has taken its drive embargo for the LaFerrari hypercar a bit too far. See, initial reviews from the few publications that attended the drive event for the hybrid-powered monster can hit the newsstand or internet on April 30. Originally, syndicated stories - those sold by freelancers or publications to other outlets - couldn't be published until May 12. These syndicated reviews are big money for larger magazines and, in the case of freelance journalists, are a primary source of revenue. Inexplicably, though, Ferrari has pushed the syndication embargo back to May 26, which is bad news for everyone involved (aside from Ferrari).
This could have been nothing more than an annoyance. The stories would still get sold (although it might be for a bit less coin, considering the initial reviews will be nearly a month old) and you'll still be bombarded by reviews of the LaFerrari not once, but twice, just as Ferrari planned.

Race Recap: Singapore Grand Prix is about a safety car and submission

The Singapore Formula One Grand Prix is the Monaco GP of the Orient - a weekend known more for its glamour and time-slot than on-track action, with a temporary circuit that punishes every mistake, usually terminally.
Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas got the best of Free Practice 1, opening the curtain on a possible resurgence of Silver Arrows performance. By the time qualifying was done, though, it was his teammate Nico Rosberg who lined up second on the grid, followed by Romain Grosjean with a beautiful performance in the Lotus, Mark Webber in the Infiniti Red Bull, and Hamilton all the way back in fifth. Behind them were Felipe Massa outqualifying Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button getting the McLaren into eighth, Daniel Ricciardo with another good Q3 effort to get into ninth, and the shocker of Esteban Gutiérrez getting his Sauber into the top ten for the first time this year.
At the front of the pack was Sebastian Vettel. Again. But he was only ahead of Rosberg by a single tenth of a second...

Ferrari's stock price falls off a cliff

The stock price skidded. The stock price stalled. Use whatever automotive analogy you want. It was a bad day for Ferrari on the New York Stock Exchange. Warning that sales growth would slow because of the economic slump in China, Ferrari NV watched its stock price slump accordingly. Shares of the company were down more than 13 percent in afternoon trading, falling to $34.64. Sprung from the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles less than four months ago, Ferrari's stock has lost a third of its value since its October initial public offering and is nearly half the price of its $62 high set days after the IPO. In a conference call with investors, chairman Sergio Marchionne said the company expected to ship approximately 7,900 vehicles this year. Marchionne said the company would be "fine" over the long term as long as it maintains a decades-long philosophy of maintaining strong demand. That means Ferrari won't follow some of its sports-car competitors who have broadened their vehicle portfolio's with the addition of SUVs. Marchionne bristled at such a suggestion. "You have to shoot me first," he told Bloomberg. But never say never? Previously, Ferrari had restricted its output to 7,000 vehicles per year. The company is already past that number, and Marchionne foresees the possibility that it could rise to approximately 9,000 by 2019. In a regulatory filing, Ferrari said, "we believe we can grow in a controlled manner while preserving the exclusivity of our brand by continuing to explore controlled growth in emerging markets to capitalize on the substantial wealth creation and the growing affluent populations in those markets." For now, those markets won't include China. Shipments there decreased 22 percent in 2015, even as worldwide output increased. Related Video: