1990 Ferrari Mondial on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Sergio Marchionne confirms Ferrari LaFerrari Spider

Sergio Marchionne has been the CEO of Ferrari for about five minutes, and there's already big product news coming from Maranello. The LaFerrari hypercar will be sold as a convertible (or Spider, if you prefer). Marchionne confirmed the Spider during an interview with Automobile Magazine, which looks like it happened before today's CEO announcement. After being asked about the so-called LaFerrarina – which Automobile calls "a less extreme version of LaFerrari" – Marchionne said "the only future product connected to LaFerrari is the Spider," which was "no secret since potential customers have already been approached." While the company is hard at work on the LaFerrari Spider, Marchionne was less forthcoming on the long-rumored, V6-powered Dino. "Where should that Dino be positioned? How much should it cost? How would it relate to the next 488? What is the right balance between too many and not enough units?" Marchionne peppered. "We haven't found answers to these questions yet." Marchionne didn't go as far as saying when Ferrari would sell the LaFerrari Spider, but if the company is already reaching out to its exclusive clientele, a debut can't be far off. Perhaps 2017? That year is, after all, the 70th anniversary of the first Ferrari-badged car, 1947's 125 S. Related Video:

Ferrari 400 Superamerica fetches record $7.6 million at auction

RM Auctions and its new partners at Sotheby's are no strangers to setting records at classic car auctions – especially when it comes to Ferraris. And now they've set another with the sale of this gorgeous 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Cabriolet. Sold as part of the father-and-son Paul & Chris Andrews Collection last weekend, chassis number 3309 SA fetched a whopping $7,645,000. That's a fair bit more than the similar, green over red, open-headlight example which the same auction house sold just a couple of months ago for $6.38 million, and far outstrips the $4,070,000 paid earlier this year at Gooding & Co.'s Scottsdale auction for a white Aerodinamico coupe. A 1963 Ferrari 400 Superamerica LWB Coupe Aerodinamico also sold for $2.86 million at the Andrews Collection sale. Succeeding the earlier 410 Superamerica, the 400 Superamerica was the Bugatti Veyron of its day: extremely expensive, exceedingly rare, and incredibly fast. Only 47 examples were made, seven of which were bodied by Pininfarina, and this was the last of them: a convertible with removable hard top and covered headlights. This was the show car which Ferrari exhibited at both the Geneva and New York auto shows upon its completion, originally in red over tan, before its first owner took it to the Bonneville Salt Flats. It subsequently bounced between a few owners over the following decades, undergoing restorations along the way and picking up numerous awards. It most recently served as the centerpiece of the Paul and Chris Andrews Collection in Fort Worth, TX, which RM Sotheby's liquidated over the weekend. The Superamerica was, of course, the top lot sold, but far from the only one: the auction featured another 15 seven-figure lots, including Packards, Duesenbergs, and more. All told, the event brought in a massive $53,887,585, setting a new record for a private automobile collection auction after every one of the lots sold.

Overnight action from the 24 Hours of Le Mans

We won't go into a recap here, but there are still leading positions being fought for in all classes - it's so close that leads are changing when a car goes into the pits. We'll let the recap wait until the end of the race, so for now enjoy some shots from last night's action at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.