The Bologna Motor Show this week is providing the venue for the Italian auto show premiere of the 599 GTB Fiorano which completes a range entirely overhauled in a little over two years. The Company, which will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2007 with a worldwide event in which its clients will be the main participants, is also be showing Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, the F430, the F430 Spider and the F430 Challenge, as well as the F2003-GA single-seater at its Bologna stand. The Prancing Horse will also have a high profile in the racing and exhibition-dedicated Shell Arena at the Bologna Show.

Today, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro are taking centre stage there with the 248 F1 driven by Marc Gené, for the team's now traditional exhibition which will include pit-stop simulations. The Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Italia - on which Ferrari's Director of Sales Raffaele Fusilli focused in Tuesday's press conference - will also be taking to the track in the course of the weekend for what has become a regular addition to its sporting calendar. Tomorrow (Saturday December 9th) it will be the turn of the gentlemen drivers of the Coppa Shell while on Sunday December 10th the Trofeo Pirelli will be staging a special international challenge, involving several of the drivers currently racing in the European leg of the series.

This year's 14th edition of the Ferrari single series event also hailed the enormously successful debut of the new F430 Challenge and the final performance of the 360 Modena, as mentioned by Raffaele Fusilli. A total of six spectacular dates on Italy's most thrilling circuits in the lead up to the key event of the season, the Ferrari World Finals, which this year took place at Monza. Details of the 2007 season will be unveiled at the Ferrari Corse Clienti (Client Racing) prize-giving ceremony in January. Thanks to the success of the just completed Panamerican 20,000, the 599 GTB Fiorano is the most eagerly awaited model on the Ferrari stand at Bologna. At the end of their gruelling 84-day, 16-country trek from Brazil to the United States, two 599 GTB Fioranos were welcomed by a throng of fans at the New York Stock Exchange on November 17th where the Panamerican 20,000 finish line ceremony was held. The trek was a stunning demonstration of the capabilities and reliability of the 599 GTB Fiorano on some of the most challenging roads in the Americas.

The 599 GTB Fiorano boasts absolutely blistering performance with its Enzo Ferrari-derived 5,999 cc V12 engine which punches out 620 hp at 7600 rpm. Boasting a power-weight ratio of under 2.6 kg/hp, a stunning Pininfarina-designed body and an all-aluminium spaceframe developed in collaboration with Alcoa, the 599 GTB Fiorano offers a range of cutting-edge innovations which provide absolutely superior driving pleasure, handling and sportiness. The 599 GTB roars from 0 to 100 km/h in an astonishing 3.7 seconds and from 0 to 200 km/h in just 11 seconds with a top speed in excess of 330 km/h. Courtesy of the ongoing technology transfer from Formula 1 to Ferrari's road cars, the 599 GTB Fiorano is equipped with two features that have proved enormously popular with its Formula 1 drivers: the F1-SuperFast gearbox which offers gear shifting in 100 milliseconds, and F1-Trac which optimises traction.
 

Both features make their road car debut on this model. The 599 GTB Fiorano also boasts other features which that help ensure superior standards of usability, ergonomics and safety engineering: the SCM (magnetorheological fluid suspension system), developed in collaboration with Delphi, which provides improved bump absorption and body control, an enhanced manettino vehicle dynamics control switch, and a wind tunnel-honed body that delivers more downforce with increasing speed.

The uniqueness and distinctiveness of Ferrari's road cars can be further enhanced with the Carrozzeria Scaglietti Personalisation Programme which offers additional new options. The entire range of cars is compatible, for instance, with an iPod® controlled via the radio-CD player. The 8-cylinder range is now also available with a two-tone Alcantara® and leather interior as well as ball-polished Challenge wheel rims. The entire Ferrari range can also be treated with an anti-stone chipping protective coating. The Carrozzeria Scaglietti Personalisation Programme is divided into four distinct areas: Racing and Track, Exteriors and Colours, Interiors and Materials, Equipment and Travel.

The programme was introduced in 1997 to allow owners to personalise their car to suit their own specific taste and requirements, making each one a genuinely unique vehicle. Since last year, all Ferraris built have included at least some personalisation features. Clients may also make non- catalogue special requests which the company will endeavour to meet in the spirit of the work done by Sergio Scaglietti with Ferrari in its earliest days. 2006 has been a significant year for Ferrari in terms of company performance, continuing the positive trend of 2005. In the first half of 2006, the company recorded revenues of 706 million euros, a 16.7% increase on the same period last year. Ferrari also doubled its trading profit, which rose from 32 to 64 million euros with a total of 2,749 cars delivered to the dealership network (+4.8%.) Ferrari's marque development is also progressing apace, thanks both to new licensing contracts and to the excellent performance of existing ones. The opening of the Venice Store and the second Milan Malpensa Airport Store in 2006 rounded off Ferrari's Italian retail expansion programme.

By the end of the year, however, another Store will also open in Beijing and this will be followed by a Beverly Hills Ferrari Store in early 2007. To preserve the unique heritage of the Prancing Horse's surviving classic cars, Ferrari also created Ferrari Classiche, a new division providing historic car owners with maintenance, restoration, technical assistance and authenticity certification services. Maranello Village, a dedicated Prancing Horse residential complex featuring 122 apartments, was also officially inaugurated recently as part of Ferrari's Formula Uomo workplace enhancement programme.