Most people are dreaming about owning a Ferrari car whatever the model is, though most could be ambitiously thinking to drive home, the latest models of Ferrari.
You might be also thinking about the origin of Ferrari, how it started, where and when was the first model being manufactured.
Ferrari is a sports car manufacturing company and has offered a number of exciting car models to the sports car lovers over the years. Ferrari cars were first manufactured in Maranello, a town located in northern Italy.
The famous symbol of the Ferrari race team is the Cavallino Rampante (“prancing horse”) black prancing stallion on a yellow shield, usually with the letters S F (for Scuderia Ferrari), with three stripes of green, white and red (the Italian national colors) at the top. The road cars have a rectangular badge on the hood and, optionally, the shield-shaped race logo on the sides of both front wings, close to the door.
On 17 June 1923, Enzo Ferrari won a race at the Savio track in Ravenna where he met the Countess Paolina, mother of Count Francesco Baracca, an ace of the Italian air force and national hero of World War I, who used to paint a horse on the side of his planes. The Countess asked Enzo to use this horse on his cars, suggesting that it would bring him good luck. The original “prancing horse” on Baracca’s airplane was painted in red on a white cloud-like shape, but Ferrari chose to have the horse in black (as it had been painted as a sign of grief on Baracca’s squadron planes after the pilot was killed in action) and he added a canary yellow background as this is the color of the city of Modena, his birthplace. The Ferrari horse was, from the very beginning, markedly different from the Baracca horse in most details, the most noticeable being the tail that in the original Baracca version was pointing downward.
Ferrari has used the cavallino rampante on official company stationery since 1929. Since the Spa 24 Hours of 9 July 1932, the cavallino rampante has been used on Alfa Romeos raced by Scuderia Ferrari. Initially the manufacturing unit used to produce race cars. Starting from its initial years till today, Ferrari cars are taking part in eminent car racing tournaments including Formula One. Ferrari is one of the most successful names associated with Formula One.
The company started manufacturing cars meant for running on roads from 1947. The quality of the regular cars manufactured by Ferrari was as good as the racing cars created by the company.
In 1947, the first road car launched by the company was 125 S. It ran on a V12 engine of 1.5 liter. Another initial model, the 166 Inter was revealed by Ferrari in the year 1949. The launch of this model marked the entry of Ferrari in the field of grand touring vehicles. Even today the bulk share of Ferrari’s business comes from its grand touring vehicles. A number of models produced by this car manufacturer possessed bodyworks customized by coachbuilders like Bertone, Zagato and Pininfarina.
Ferrari is a big name in the concept car market. One of the most loved concept cars manufactured by them is the Mythos. Most of these concept cars had no relation with the cars that were actually in production. However, the Mythos is not one among them. Many production models of Ferrari hired styling elements form this concept car.
The company continued to develop and the new age Ferrari cars come with best possible looks and technology embedded in it. During most part of the 1980s and 1990s the world saw launch of several mid engine Ferrari models. More than 50% of the total production of the company runs on V8 engine. In 1973, Ferrari manufactured Berlinetta Boxer in the year 1973. It was one of the most popular makes of the mid-engine pieces of the company. The Berlinetta Boxer is powered by a 12 cylinder engine.
When Enzo died in 1988, Ferrari finally became a mythos. The value of used cars rose, as well as sales of current models. The last new model he commissioned was the specialist F40.
The hiring of Michael Schumacher and other members from Benetton triggered a comeback of the F1 team, with three wins in 1996, and close yet eventually losing challenges to the driver’s championship in the years 1997 to 1999.
In an unprecedented and record-setting fashion, Schumacher and Ferrari dominate F1 winning the World Driver’s championship from 2000 through 2004 and the Constructors’ Championship from 1999 through 2004. 2006 saw him retire from F1.
As of 2008, Fiat Group owns 85% of Ferrari, Mubadala Development Company owns 5%, and Enzo’s second son Piero Ferrari owns 10%. Of these, Ferrari is under main control of the Fiat Group, containing Alfa Romeo as well.
Today, some of the Ferrari car models that are famous worldwide are 458 Italia and Ferrari Enzo but those available in the market are California, 599 GTB Fiorano and FF among others.
Ferrari continuously gearing up to the next generation of sports cars with its EGO Concept car to be released on 2025.
The Ferrari EGO ( for Emotional Generation One) concept car epitomizes the style and verve of the Ferrari name. The car is designed as a hypercar for 2025 to prove design and styling concepts to serve as learning milestones to the future sports cars from the Italian automaker.
