The history of Ferrari

Enzo Ferrari never wanted to be a carmaker. He wanted to win races. Everything else, including one of the most valuable brands in the world, was a means to fund that passion. Today Ferrari delivers fewer than 14,000 cars a year and is worth tens of billions of dollars, an apparent contradiction that only makes sense once you know the man behind the prancing horse.

A racing team before a factory

On 16 November 1929, Enzo Ferrari founded Scuderia Ferrari in Modena, a racing team that competed with Alfa Romeo cars, the marque for which he had himself driven in the 1920s. He did not build cars: he organised races for others.

In 1939 he left Alfa Romeo under an agreement that barred him from using his own surname in racing for four years. He then created Auto Avio Costruzioni and built the AAC 815, the first car entirely his own, though it could not bear his name. The first car officially badged as a Ferrari was the 125 S, in 1947, with its celebrated V12 engine. That same year it scored its first win at the Grand Prix of Rome.

The DNA of the track

Ferrari is the oldest and most successful team in the history of Formula 1. It was there for the championship's first season, in 1950, and has not missed one since. Its numbers are the stuff of legend:

• 16 Constructors' Championships, an outright record in Formula 1.
• 15 Drivers' Championships, spread across nine different racers.
• More than 240 race victories, the only constructor ever to pass 200.
• 12 outright wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the most recent in 2025.

For Enzo, road cars were the tool to pay for all this. He sold Ferraris to wealthy customers to keep the racing team's engines running. From that logic came mythical models: the 250 GTO of the 1960s, the Testarossa of the 1980s, the F40 of 1987, the last car Enzo personally signed off, and the hybrid LaFerrari of 2013.

Fiat, the death of Enzo and the stock market

In 1969 Fiat acquired 50% of Ferrari, and in 1988 it raised its stake to 90%, leaving 10% in Enzo's own hands. That same year, on 14 August 1988, Enzo Ferrari died at the age of 90 in Modena. His share passed to his son Piero, who still holds it.

In 2015 Ferrari went public in New York under the ticker RACE, priced initially at 52 dollars a share, separating from Fiat Chrysler. In 2016 it added a secondary listing in Milan. The brand born to race also became one of the most coveted investments in the automotive sector.

The prancing horse and the economics of scarcity

The famous black horse has a real origin. It belonged to the Italian flying ace Francesco Baracca, killed in the First World War. After a victory in 1923, Enzo met the pilot's parents, and Countess Paolina Baracca suggested he adopt her son's horse as a good-luck charm. Enzo kept it black and added the canary-yellow background of Modena, his home city.

The horse was, and has remained, black; I myself added the canary-yellow background, this being the colour of Modena. — Enzo Ferrari.

That exclusivity is no accident, it is strategy. Ferrari deliberately limits production to protect the aura of scarcity. In fiscal 2024 it delivered 13,752 units, with revenues of 6,677 million euros and an operating margin above 28%, figures any high-volume manufacturer would envy. Its first fully electric car, unveiled between 2025 and 2026, arrives to open a new chapter without giving up luxury.

What Ferrari teaches us

Ferrari proves that selling less can be worth more. Instead of chasing volume, it built a business on desire, exclusivity and an unmistakable identity. For any business, the lesson is clear: a brand with purpose and a proposition that respects itself can charge more, retain customers better and weather downturns better than a hundred indistinguishable rivals fighting on price.

Sources

• Ferrari — https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/magazine/articles/foundation-scuderia-ferrari-formula-one-team
• Ferrari (FY2024 results) — https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/corporate/articles/2024-full-year-and-fourth-quarter-financial-results
• CNBC — https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/04/luxury-carmaker-ferrari-posts-21percent-uptick-in-full-year-profit-sees-2025-growth.html
• CNN Business — https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/26/cars/ferrari-new-electric-vehicle-luce-intl-hnk
• SEC EDGAR — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001648416/000164841615000038/exhibit99112-14x15ferrari.htm