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Ferrari looks to capitalize on brand name as it promises faster growth

MILAN — Strong sales of Ferrari's Portofino and 812 Superfast models enabled the Italian luxury carmaker to raise its outlook on Monday, with a new brand strategy promising even more growth. Ferrari's Milan-listed shares rose as much as 7.4% to an all-time high of 155.15 euros ($172.65) after it reported "solid" third quarter results and signaled a strong year ahead. The 'Cavallino Rampante,' or 'Prancing Horse,' launched a plan to enhance its brand through new apparel and accessory collections, entertainment offers, and luxury products and services for clients. They include an agreement with Italian fashion house Giorgio Armani and the opening of a restaurant with star chef Massimo Bottura in the group's hometown of Maranello in northern Italy. Ferrari expects the new brand initiative to represent around 10% of the group's profitability in the next seven to 10 years, in what Chief Executive Louis Camilleri described as an "ambitious but realistic target". "It is our intention to increase the size of the cake and our share of the cake," he told analysts in an earnings call, referring to the group's bid to expand revenues outside of selling cars. The new branding strategy builds on the group's aggressive roll-out of new premium models. Ferrari said core earnings would be around 1.27 billion euros ($1.41 billion) for the full year, topping a previous forecast of 1.2-1.25 billion euros ($1.34-1.39 billion). Camilleri said that this year Ferrari would match what it forecast last year for 2020. "I think it's rather premature for us to address 2020 at this time. But clearly, we do anticipate a strong year," he told analysts. The carmaker also increased its outlook on 2019 revenues to about 3.7 billion euros ($4.12 billion), from a previous forecast of more than 3.5 billion euros ($3.89 billion), and industrial free cashflow. "We expect the stock to rise but (the) focus will be on 2020," Morgan Stanley said in a note, adding that Ferrari's results were better than expected across the board. Ferrari will present its latest new model in Rome next week, taking the total to five this year, including the F90 Stradale, its first hybrid car in series-production. To support Ferrari's growth and profitability Camilleri's strategy plan from September last year promised to launch 15 new models between 2019 and 2022.

The 2017 Acura NSX will cost $156,000

Back in October, when our Editor-in-Chief Mike Austin drove the 2017 Acura NSX for the first time in the Bay Area and at Sonoma Raceway, we guessed that the hybrid supercar would start at around the $170,000 price point. We weren't that far off – it starts at $156,000, and tops out around $205,000. But now that we have a solid sense of what Acura thinks this car is worth, and we know what they benchmarked the NSX against, we can compare apples to apples. Let's be clear: we like this car. Austin described it as "makes you giggle" fast, everyday-comfortable, and chock full of impressive party tricks like seamless shifting – with only a few foibles, like numb steering, to spoil the illusion of perfection. Back to the benchmarked cars. Acura says the NSX will compete with the Audi R8, and was developed to compete with the now-superseded 458 Italia. Let's start with the 2017 R8 V10 Plus – pricing hasn't been released, and a direct Euro-to-USD conversion isn't the whole story, but it starts at the equivalent of $179,000 in Europe. For that, the R8 V10 Plus provides 610 horsepower, a seven-speed DCT, and a 3.2-second sprint to 60 mph. The 458's successor, the 488 GTB, should be more expensive than the $243,000 the old model started at, and provides 661 hp, a seven-speed dual-clutch, and a 0-60 time of around three seconds (official numbers haven't been released for acceleration). For less money than either of these cars, the NSX delivers ... less. Total system output is 573 hp. It has a slight edge in gear count, at nine speeds, and should beat the R8 to 60 mph. But there's no V10, let alone Ferrari's feral turbocharged V8. It'll be up to buyers to determine if the compromises involved are worth a few thousand dollars in savings, if no options are selected. It should also be noted that Acura describes this as its first "built-to-order" vehicle, but the limited external color options and interior schemes don't appear to be much different than the extent to which you can customize an Accord. The configurator goes live on February 25th, if you want to see for yourself. Lastly, in what now seems to be a necessary part of a new high-end car launch, Acura will auction off VIN 001, the first production NSX, at Barrett-Jackson in January. All proceeds from that auction will benefit two charities: the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and Camp Southern Ground. Related Video: Acura Shares Details of Next-Generation Acura NSX Sales Plan - 2017 Acura NSX U.S.

Ford GT dominates Le Mans qualifying, gets slapped with performance adjustment

Fifty years after Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon drove the Ford GT40 to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ford is poised for a historic return to the Circuit de la Sarthe. The new Ford GT took the top two qualifying positions in the LMGTE Pro class, and four of the top five. Ferrari's 488 filled in the rest of the spots in the top seven, the first two from AF Corse. In other words, we're primed for a reboot of the classic Ford-Ferrari feud at this year's race. Or not, as the ACO, which organizes the 24 Hours of Le Mans, announced sweeping pre-race Balance of Performance (BOP) adjustments this morning that make this year's GT class anybody's race. In LMP1, last year's overall winner Porsche locked up the top two spots with the 919 Hybrid and will lead the entire field at race start. Toyota's two-car factory effort followed with qualifying times 1.004 and 2.170 seconds behind the pole lap. Audi rounds out the manufacturer-backed LMP1 class in fifth and sixth. Full qualifying results can be found here. The storyline for the GT cars is perfect - some say too perfect. Ford's class-leading times came after BOP adjustment to the Corvette Racing C7.R before qualifying. BOP is intended to level the playing field in the class by adjusting power, ballast, and fuel capacity. (Check out this explainer video for more, or even just if you love French accents.) But the process is riddled with unknowns and ripe for accusations of sandbagging. That is, if the Ford cars were intentionally slow in practice they could hope for BOP adjustment to improve their race chances. On the Corvette side, last year's GTE Pro winner went from the top of the field to the bottom, barely improving from practice to qualifying. If you think Le Mans is as rigged at the NBA Playoffs, well, it's not that simple. Because if Ford and Ferrari held back until qualifying - the eighth-place Porsche 911 RSR is three-and-a-half seconds off the class pole time - it was a pretty dumb strategy. This morning, the ACO tried to put things back in order by limiting the boost in the Ford GT's twin-turbo V6 and adding 11 pounds of ballast. Ferrari was also given extra weight but allowed more fuel capacity. The Corvette and Aston Martin teams were both given breaks on their air restrictors, which will allow their engines to make more power. Both Ford and Porsche also received extra fuel capacity.