Ferrari 456 Gt Six Speed on 2040-cars

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Ferrari production to increase under Marchionne

The head of any company has to juggle the relationship between supply and demand. Of course, that applies to automakers too, even ones as high-end as Ferrari. And as with many other decisions, the way Ferrari has addressed supply and demand has come down principally to the principal.
Enzo Ferrari may have only wanted to sell as many vehicles as he needed in order to fund his company's racing department, but with the F40 - the last model made under his watch - Ferrari ended up increasing supply to meet growing demand. However, after Luca di Montezemolo took over in the wake of Enzo's passing, he started constricting supply. He figured Ferrari could sell 400 units of the F50, for example, so he built 399. More recently, Montezemolo undertook a course of action that spread Ferrari into more markets, while simultaneously constricting supply to increase demand and thereby profitability.
It's been a winning formula for Ferrari. Just days ago, the company announced record earnings up by 14.5 percent in the first half of 2014 over the same period last year, which itself had seen a 7.1-percent increase over the year before. Clearly the strategy has worked, but Montezemolo's successor is already eying a different approach.

Ferrari launches 2014 Formula One engine, tests it in a LaFerrari? [w/videos]

Ferrari is the last of the three engine manufacturers remaining in Formula One to reveal its 2014 power unit. Called the 059/3, like the Mercedes and Renault units it is a turbocharged, 1.6-liter V6 further boosted by an energy recovery system that is twice as powerful as before. The 2013 KERS was good for 80 horsepower, could power the car for six seconds and reduce a lap time by about 0.3 seconds. For 2014, the energy recovery system puts out 160 hp, powers the car for 30 seconds on full batteries and, according to Ferrari, can shave a massive three seconds per lap.
The car that surrounds this engine doesn't have a name yet - that will be chosen by Ferrari's social media followers in January from a selection of names provided by the Scuderia.
Ferrari didn't provide an audio sample of the power unit at its introduction, but a brief video taken at Fiorano has led folks to believe that the team has been testing the engine in a revised LaFerrari chassis. The clip shows a camouflaged version of the marque's new supercar fitted with a roof intake and sounding nothing at all like a V12 as it takes the hairpin and powers onto the straight.

Celebrating the Ferrari F40 and the man who raced it

The Ferrari F40 has become one of the iconic cars of the last 50 years. It presaged the supercars of the future with its extensive use of carbon fiber and turbocharged engine, but it was also old school with no traction control, stability control or even anti-lock supervision to save the driver if they got in over their head. In its latest video, XCar Films takes a look at the F40 through the lens of a man in the UK who specializes in keeping them on the road and occasionally races these quintessential sports cars.
John Pogson has spent his entire life surrounded by engines. His father was a transport manager for a trucking company and he used to accompany him out on repairs. When he was old enough, John started repairing vehicles at a Lancia dealer, and from there, he started working for Ferrari. Eventually, he saved up enough money to open his own, independent Italian car garage. His new business proved successful, and Pogson's customers started asking him to race their Ferraris, including the F40 - something he did with great success. How could you say no to that opportunity?
While Italian cars are his specialty, Pogson also has a soft spot for all performance cars. The video shows him driving his AC Cobra with a claimed 600 horsepower and doing some smoky donuts in it. Scroll down to learn more about the F40 from one of the people that knows it best.