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Ferrari celebrates 10 million Facebook fans, animates Montezemolo

Kia has 2.1 million fans on Facebook, though we'd wager that far more people worldwide own Kias than are fans of the Korean automaker's page. On the other hand, Ferrari, whose owners number just a lucky few, has a legion of fans counted in the millions. In fact, the Facebook page for the Italian automaker just surpassed 10 million Likes.
To celebrate this social media milestone, Ferrari has put together this cute little video below, featuring chairman Luca di Montezemolo, as well as a few other animated guest appearances.
For comparison's sake, major corporations like Pepsi have 9.1 million fans, Kohl's has 9.7 million fans, and Wal-Mart has 25+ million fans. For a car company that sells a few thousand units a year, 10+ million upstretched thumbs is quite the following.

Ferrari investors want assurance on goals, SUVs on eve of vehicle reveal

MILAN — Ferrari's new boss has his work cut out on Tuesday to convince investors that the supercar maker can hit mid-term targets he described last month as "aspirational." The company's share price slid more than 8 percent on Aug. 1 after Louis Camilleri said he saw "risks" ahead, with investors worrying he may have sought to lower expectations on the targets set by his predecessor, Sergio Marchionne. Former tobacco exec Camilleri was appointed Ferrari CEO in July, succeeding Marchionne, who died from complications following surgery. The sudden change jolted investors who had expected Marchionne to remain as CEO and chairman until 2021, having more than doubled Ferrari's value since taking it public in 2015 and pledged to double core earnings (EBITDA) to 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) by 2022. It also left Camilleri to finish scripting a strategy to show how the company known for its racing pedigree and roaring combustion engines would shift toward making a sport utility vehicle (SUV) and hybrid cars while increasing shipments without sacrificing its exclusivity. "Investors want to hear whether Ferrari confirm the 2 billion euro figure, which was already seen as ambitious and now somewhat put in question by the new CEO," said Emanuele Vizzini, general manager at Milan-based investment fund Investitori Sgr. "And how they plan to expand the portfolio, including an SUV." 'Nurture what he's found' When Camilleri faces investors at Ferrari's Maranello headquarters on Tuesday he is not expected to stray far from his predecessor's script. Marchionne had orchestrated Ferrari's spinoff from parent Fiat Chrysler, positioned it as a luxury icon rather than a carmaker and managed to do what few thought possible: sail through a self-imposed cap of 7,000 cars a year without sacrificing pricing power or its exclusive appeal. "Ferrari is running almost on autopilot ... Camilleri should not take any risks at this stage but nurture what he's found," said Carlo Gentili, CEO at asset manager Nextam Partners. When Ferrari's share price hit a record high of 129.50 euros in June, the company that sold slightly fewer than 8,400 vehicles last year was worth about 24 billion euros. That is almost as much as Fiat Chrysler <FCHA.MI>, which shipped 4.7 million cars. With profit margins above 30 percent, strong pricing power and a healthy customer waiting list of more than a year, Camilleri inherits a business that is firing on all cylinders.

Ferrari picks up ex-Sauber driver Esteban Gutierrez as test pilot

With McLaren's long-awaited confirmation of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, the grid for the 2015 Formula One World Championship is finally complete. (That is, at least, aside from the bankrupt Caterham and Marussia teams, whose fate for next season still remain open.) But with the big game of musical chairs now drawn to a close, not everyone who had a seat this year will have one the next. And that includes one Esteban Gutierrez, who lost his ride with Sauber but has landed a test driver role with Ferrari instead. Gutierrez climbed up through the formula racing ladder, winning the 2008 Formula BMW Europe and 2010 GP3 titles before getting his start as a test driver with the Sauber team – a role which he held for two seasons while simultaneously putting up a good fight and winning races in GP2. Sauber promoted him to the race seat in 2013 (when he placed a career-best seventh place at the Japanese Grand Prix) and kept him on board for another season. But after failing to finish in the points even once this past year, both he and veteran team-mate Adrian Sutil were both replaced for next season. Taking their place will be Marcus Ericsson (who drove for Caterham this year) and newcomer Felipe Nasr (who served this season as test driver at Williams). That's left Gutierrez without a race seat, but Scuderia Ferrari has snapped him up as its official test and reserve driver for next season. In that capacity he'll be offered the chance to drive top-flight machinery and hone his skills with a front-running team, and will be on standby should either Sebastian Vettel or Kimi Raikkonen be unable to drive at one grand prix or another. Most of the other teams have yet to confirm their third drivers, but Williams recently announced it was promoting Susie Wolff to the job and McLaren confirmed Kevin Magnussen was bumped down for next season to make way for Alonso. The move may strike some as odd since Gutierrez is not part of the Ferrari Driver Academy development program, but Sauber has long shared close ties with the Maranello-based team. Ferrari supplies engines to Sauber, which in turn sometimes graduates drivers to the Scuderia. Former Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella both drove for Sauber, and current drivers Vettel and Raikkonen both got their starts there as well. A Mexican driver is back to Maranello Maranello, 15 December 2014 – Ferrari announces that, as from next season, Esteban Gutierrez will become part of the Scuderia workforce.