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Ferrari to pay Fiat Chrysler $2.8B prior to spinoff

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is trying to get capital together in a hurry to finance the automaker's growth plans. Among its strategies to raise money, Ferrari will be spun off from the FCA mothership next year with an initial public offering. However, the Italian supercar maker will be a couple billion dollars poorer at the start of its new life.
According to a filing with US regulators obtained by Automotive News, FCA intends to "enter into certain other transactions including distributions and transfers of cash from Ferrari currently estimated at 2.25 billion euros ($2.8 billion)" before it spins the supercar maker off. Those funds might include paying a dividend to investors, and FCA possibly transferring some of its debt to the Prancing Horse.
The Ferrari IPO will likely be in the second or third quarter of 2015, according to Automotive News. Ten percent of the automaker will go onto the public market in the US and possibly Europe too, and 80 percent will be distributed among current FCA shareholders. The other 10 percent is held by co-chairman Piero Ferrari, according to AN.

Are you the Enzo-succeeding Ferrari F150?

We've brought you no end of spy shots and rumors surrounding the new Ferrari hypercar, often referred to as F150, that is destined to succeed the Enzo as the Italian maker's top offering. Now, one new and highly speculative rendering has come to light whose origins are interesting, even if the final product is still pretty much a stab in the dark.
The rendering you see here was created by an organization called goldRush Rally, which published the image on its Facebook page. The claim is that this rendering was based on a "snapshot of a plaque with a sketch of the new supercar." We certainly won't speculate as to what kind of "presentation" a luxury-rally throwing company like gRR would be invited to - to say nothing of why there was a plaque bearing the image of a supercar that has been so well cordoned off from public eyes - but we'll roll with it because we love the internet.
Even if the story is completely true (big if), we're fairly certain the details of the rendering miss in some places relative to the real deal car. The front wheel wells, for instance, seem comically thin around the top, and hold wheels that are way out of proportion with the spy shots and videos we've seen so far. More promising, however, is the detailing of the door and sill of the F150 - portions of the car that have consistently been covered in spy shots.

Alfa Romeo considering Ferrari-developed engines for new product lineup

A report in Bloomberg adds more details to the plans for Alfa Romeo's fourth turnaround plan in Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne's tenure, and this time Ferrari is apparently going to be part of the show. In December Automotive News Europe reported that a new Maserati-derived rear-drive architecture would be the centerpiece at Alfa Romeo, as well as coming Chrysler and Dodge products. At the time, ANE said the platform would support a new midsize sedan and wagon perhaps to be called Giulia, a fullsize sedan and a midsize crossover, with retail appearance of the product initiative commencing perhaps as soon as next year. It would be part of Fiat's $12.3-billion spend on new models and European recovery.
The Bloomberg report says that particulars haven't been finalized, but the plan is to have six new Alfas appear over the next five years, two of which would be SUVs. The futures of the Mito and Giulietta, two of the three cars Alfa currently sells and 99 percent of sales last year, aren't assured, meaning that the lineup in six years could be seven cars (including the 4C), six of which we haven't any definitive clue of yet. The top-tier versions of those cars, according to the report - perhaps the Quadrifoglio Verde - "will be equipped with motors developed by Ferrari."
Marchionne wants to get sales up to 300,000 units per year when the lineup is complete, pairing Alfa sales with Jeep's global dealer network to open up the retail channel. That kind of volume would get Fiat's Italian plants back in business properly, even though Marchionne's stance on Italy-only Alfa production would mean the end of the anticipated roadster that was to be twinned with the coming Mazda MX-5 Miata. Alfa's direction will be laid out in Detroit in May as part of the overall strategy presentation for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV.