Ferrari sees 2002 as record year, revenue to grow by 10 percent

MARANELLO, Italy, October 14, 2002 Brian Lysaght writing for Bloomberg reports that

Ferrari SpA, Italy's maker of high-performance sports cars, said 2002 revenue will rise by 10 percent to about 1.16 billion euros ($1.14 billon).

"Another record year is in prospect for Ferrari," the company said in a faxed press release. It didn't give a reason for the increase

The Maranello, Italy-based company makes $200,000 cars and competes with Porsche AG and Ford Motor Co.'s Aston Martin unit. Mediobanca SpA, Italy's largest investment bank, bought a third of Ferrari in June for 775 million euros from Fiat SpA, which needed to raise cash and cut debt.

Mediobanca expects to sell all or part of its stake in an initial public offering of stock in the next year.

Ferrari also said it has increased its planned production of its newest and most expensive model, the Enzo, to 399 cars, from the original plan of 349 cars.

The Enzo, named after founder Enzo Ferrari, will cost 665,000 euros and was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show last month. The company has "firm orders" for each of the cars.

Porsche said today that its second-half profit rose a greater-than-expected 95 percent to 373 million euros as demand increased for its 911 sports cars.