World Debut Of Ferrari FXX At Bologna Motor Show
Published: 3rd December 2005
The FXX and F430 Challenge are joined on the Ferrari stand at Bologna by the 2004 Formula 1 World Championship-winning single-seater, the 612 Scaglietti, and the coupe and spider versions of the F430. The latter two models have won a plethora of international honours between them, most recently prestigious German car magazine Auto Zeitung’s Supercar of the Year award. The F430 Spider was also named Supercar of the Year just last night by BBC Top Gear, completing a well-deserved double for the F430 with the coupe version similarly honoured in 2004.
2005 was an important year for Ferrari both in terms of the company set-up and the new products it unveiled.
In April, the Ferrari Maserati Group was dissolved and ownership of Maserati was transferred to Fiat in order to allow the Trident to establish a closer technical and commercial relationship with Alfa Romeo, particularly on the major international markets. Nonetheless, Ferrari and Maserati continue to collaborate on an industrial level, and with regard to technical projects, engines and sales networks.
At the end of July, the Abu Dhabi government development company, Mubadala, acquired a 5% share in Ferrari from Mediobanca and was immediately committed to being an extremely reliable and stable partner with a range of exciting new business strategies to share. In early November, Ferrari and Aldar, an Abu Dhabi real estate company, announced an exclusive agreement to develop an innovative and exciting Ferrari Area in Abu Dhabi themed around the Ferrari brand.
In October, Ferrari also announced the creation of a new Sales Unit for the Asia-Pacific region which covers a total of 13 markets, amongst which are Japan, China, Australia and Hong Kong. The region has enormous potential for development and is extremely strategic for Ferrari which envisages commercial successes in coming years.
Finally, just a few days ago, Donato Coco joined Ferrari, replacing Frank Stephenson as the Prancing Horse’s Chief Designer. Coco will now have the task of stimulating and directing the creativity of Ferrari’s partners, including Pininfarina with which the Prancing Horse has enjoyed an exceptionally long and fruitful working relationship.
