Ferrari is on track to reverse a decision made by former Chairman Luca di Montezemolo to limit annual production at about 7,000 cars, no doubt to the ire of current owners. The 7,000-car limit was instigated by di Montezemolo as a way to maintain Ferrari’s exclusivity when most rivals are racing to break sales record after sales record, but with Sergio Marchionne running the show and a share market listing looming the desire to meet growing demand for Ferrari cars appears too strong to resist.
According to a filing made by Ferrari with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in regards to its share market listing, the Italian sports car manufacturer and race team revealed that it plans to increase annual production to as much as 9,000 cars by 2019, a rise of almost 30 percent on the 7,000-car limit. At that time, it is believed Ferrari will have a new mid-engine model powered by a V-6 filling the gap between the California and 488 GTB, which helps to explain how some of the extra production will be filled.
In the filing, Ferrari also said the number of people able to afford one its models is growing, particularly in emerging markets where previously the automaker had little presence. But the previous limit has had the effect of maintaining values of pre-owned Ferraris, since the waiting time for a new one often stretched more than a year—assuming you passed the hurdle of actually securing a build slot for a new Ferrari. It will be interesting to see if there will be any adverse effects on pre-owned values with the ramping up of production.
Below is a video showing the production of the latest 488 Spider.
