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Italy’s Ferrari reports record first-half revenues

A day after Ferrari said its head was leaving after more than two decades, the Italian sports car brand on Thursday posted record revenues in the first half of 2014.

Published: 12 September 2014 08:40 CEST

Italy's Ferrari reports record first-half revenues

Former Ferrari chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo at a news conference in the Ferrari headquarters in Maranello on September 10th. Photo: STR/AFP

Net profits jumped 9.8 percent in the first six months of the year to €127.6 million ($165.1 million), the luxury automaker said in a statement.

And revenue surged 14.5 percent from the same time a year ago to an "absolutely unprecedented" €1.35 billion, helped by higher sales in the US, Japan, Australia and Britain, it added.

"It is a huge satisfaction for all of us at Ferrari to continue to achieve record economic results," outgoing president Luca di Montezemolo said in the statement.

"I'm sure that in a few months we will close an extraordinary year without precedent."

Ferrari on Wednesday announced Montezemolo would step down in October after 23 years at the helm, just weeks before the company floats in the US as part of its parent group Fiat Chrysler.

The top job at the biggest name in Formula One racing will be taken over by the head of parent group Fiat, Sergio Marchionne.

The two men had clashed over strategy, with Montezemolo reportedly hoping to keep the brand exclusive by limiting sales to some 7,000 cars a year and Marchionne pushing for higher sales.

Ferrari said Thursday it sold 3,631 cars in the first half of 2014, down 3.6 percent from a year earlier.

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IN PHOTOS: Ferrari unveils its new car for the 2020 season

The new Ferrari SF1000. All photos: AFP/Ferrari press office

Ferrari unveiled its new SF1000 car for the 2020 Formula One season, which they hope will deliver a first world drivers title since 2007, during a glitzy ceremony on Tuesday.

The single-seater's name acknowledges the fact that the Italian team will start its 1,000th world championship race during the coming campaign, which begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 15.

Narrower than last season's SF90, with a deeper red colouring the body, Ferrari is pinning its hopes on the SF1000 car earning them drivers and constructors titles that have eluded them for 12 and 11 years respectively.

“I like it very much,” said German driver Sebastian Vettel.”It's much narrower at the back than last year and it is also redder, it's even better. I'm impatient to drive it, that will be even more fascinating than looking at it.”

The Scuderia broke with tradition and presented its new racing car outside of its stronghold of Maranello, unveiling it instead amid of sea of red on stage at the Teatro Romolo-Valli in the nearby city of Reggio Emilia.

“This is a very important place for our country,” chairman of the Ferrari group John Elkann explained.
“It was in this city that the tricolour flag, which became that of Italy, was created. And Ferrari is proud of Italy and of representing Italy.”

“This is a very special year,” continued Ferrari Team Manager Mattia Binotto.

“It's 70 years of Formula One, we have been there from the start and we are going to reach the figure of 1,000 Grands Prix, which is something incredible.”

Barring a forced change in the calendar because of the deadly coronavirus in Asia, the milestone should be reached in June during the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

“Maybe it looks a lot like the SF90, but I can assure you it is very different,” continued Binotto.

“We still have to make progress, especially on reliability,” he added, recalling that Ferrari, like the other teams, had to face “the double challenge” of preparing the next season in parallel with the following one, when new rules will come into force.

Binotto stressed that this season veteran Vettel and 22-year-old Charles Leclerc, who impressed on his debut last season, would be starting on an equal footing.

“We have seen that they can both fight for the best results. They are both on the same level. It is up to them to race,” he added.

Last season, the association between the experienced Vettel and Leclerc often turned into a duel, coming to a head when the two drivers collided during the Brazilian GP.

But 22-year-old Leclerc, who won two races and finished fourth place in the world championship, said lessons had been learned.

“We have learned the lesson from Brazil. We are free to race, but we are teammates,” he said.

“A lot of people are working behind us, as a team, and things like Brazil should not happen.”

Both drivers said they were impatient to try out the new car, which will be on track next week for the pre-season testing in Barcelona.

“I felt emotional when I saw it,” said Monaco's Leclerc.

“Now I can't wait to be out on track and try it and to show all the work that has been done on this car. It's going to be a great challenge,” he added. “I'm ready to learn from my mistakes to become an even better driver.”

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