 Ferrari See 2001 as Bumper Year Thursday August 23rd, 2001 By Malcolm Whittaker
Michael Schumacher drove his scarlet, stallion emblemed racer to the Formula One driver's title in Hungary last Sunday, with four races still left in the Grand Prix calendar. Ferrari also retained their constructor's title for the third consecutive season. "It's a bet well won," Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo told the Gazzetta dello Sport on Thursday. He told jubilant team members at their Maranello base this week he expected 2001 to be a bumper year for the group, which also includes sister marque Maserati and is a division of the Agnelli family's Fiat group. He said turnover this year was expected to reach 1.78 trillion lire ($838 million), up 18 percent on 2000, with net profits of 12.7 billion lire. Montezemolo said sales would quadruple those in 1993 - the year he appointed Frenchman Jean Todt as Ferrari sporting director and marked the real start of the group's growth, after a tough start to the 1990s. Todt is now on the Ferrari board. Last year, the group sold 4,072 Ferraris and 2,027 Maseratis, up 14 percent on 1999 and generating global revenue of 893 million euros ($815 million) and consolidated operating profit of 45 million euros. Ferrari sales in North America were up 11 percent and rose 12 percent in both Italy and the Far East, while Maserati sales rose by 55 percent in Britain, 44 percent in Germany and by 34 percent in Switzerland. Last year, Ferrari spent 14.3 percent of total turnover in research and development. Montezemolo said he saw a "hot autumn" and work had already begun to create the car for the next Formula One Championship, while the company was putting a lot of effort into relaunching Maserati. A new Maserati spyder version will be unveiled at the Frankfurt Car Show in September, with the new model launching on the U.S. market in 2002. The Maserati range will be further updated in 2003, Montezemolo said. Ferrari, founded in 1947 by the legendary Enzo Ferrari, had its first Grand Prix victory in 1951. Turin-based industrial giant Fiat owns 90 percent of Ferrari, with the remaining 10 percent in the hands of the Ferrari family, but it is not part of the Fiat Auto division. Ferrari and Maserati are excluded from the global alliance between Fiat and world number one automaker General Motors Corp unveiled early last year for the creation of 50-50 powertrain and purchasing joint ventures. Montezemolo, group chairman since 1991, had been offered the post of sports minister in Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government following May's general election, but he turned it down to continue working with Ferrari.
Published at 15:18:05 GMT
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Italy's Ferrari, buoyed by their second consecutive F1 World Championship title, are gearing up for a bumper year of sales of its top flight sports cars.
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