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The man to be credited for the production of the famed Ferrari cars went by the name of Enzo Ferrari, a man who was very passionate about racing. In 1929, Enzo Ferrari founded a company which he named Scuderia Ferrari, literally meaning Ferrari Stable. Scuderia Ferrari initially manufactured race cars and sponsored drivers for some 18 years, eventually becoming the Alfa-Romero in-house racing team. When he left Alfa, Ferrari went to design and produce cars of his own. He did this in order to fund Scuderia.

In 1947, the Ferrari ventured into producing road cars, the first being the 1947 125 S model that had a 1.5 L V12 engine. Because of this new venture, Scuderia Ferrari became Ferrari S.p.A, an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello and Modena, Italy.

Ferrari cars used a three-number naming scheme based on engine displacement. The first two digits indicated the total displacement in deciliters while the last digit referred to the number of cylinders. Thus, the 206 model meant that the total displacement in deciliters was 2.0 and that the number of cylinders was 6. In the same way, the 348 model meant that the total displacement was 3.4 and the number of cylinders was 8. Many Ferraris were also named according to their body style. Some had other names attached to them for further identification. In the middle of the 1990s, Ferrari included the letter F at the beginning of all its models.

Ferrari cars were basically fast cars and they were beautiful, but they were also expensive. In fact, only the rich and the famous could very well afford a Ferrari. Much to his chagrin, though, Enzo Ferrari felt that many customers are buying his cars as a status symbol only and not because his cars really were of good quality. Enzo became quite vocal about this and did not hide his disappointment, not even to his customers.

The road cars of Ferrari were designed by famous design houses, such as Pininfarina, Scaglietti, Bertone, Touring, Ghia, and Vignale. Then in 2005, Ferrari sponsored a design competition called Ferrari Concepts of the Myth for students. The competition was meant to allow some 20 talented students the opportunity to show off their gift on a ¼ scale model, and the top three would be given the chance to work at Maranello, Ferrari’s design studio.

Ferrari also engaged in motorsports. Its first win happened in 1949 with Luigi Chinetti driving a 166. Ferrari continued to be dominant in the World Sportscar Championships since 1953, winning the coveted Manufacturers Championship seven times!

Ferrari however suffered considerable losses through the years. So in 1969, already laden by financial troubles, Enzo Ferrari was forced to sell the company’s sports car division to Fiat. The sale was made so the company could get financial support somehow. Nevertheless, Enzo Ferrari continued to be a major force in the racing division until he died in 1988. He died at a ripe old age of 90, but he must have died a happy man, having personally overseen the launching of the Ferrari F40 on the same year as his death.

Ferrari went on to participate in racing, particularly Formula One. Ferrari largely benefited from this, especially during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, late 1990s and 2000s. Ferrari was very successful in Formula One. In fact, the Ferrari team holds almost every Formula One record there is. As of 2007, Ferrari already has 15 World Drivers Championship titles, 15 World Constructors Champion titles, and 201 Grand Prix victories. The latest Formula One win of Ferrari occurred in 2007, with Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa driving.

The symbol used by the Ferrari race team was a black prancing stallion amidst a yellow background. The symbol usually comes with the letters S and F, which stand for Scuderia Ferrari, and three lines of green, white and red at the top. This prancing horse symbol had an interesting history. It had been reported that after winning a race in Ravenna on June 17, 1923, Enzo Ferrari met a certain Countess Paolina who happened to be the mother of Count Francesco Baracca. Countess Paolina told Enzo that his son, Count Baracca, used to paint a horse on the side of his planes for good luck. She then suggested to Enzo to use this same horse on his cars, as well, for basically the same reason. Enzo took the suggestion to heart, but he made some modifications on his horse. For one, his horse was colored black and not red, in stark contrast to the horse of Baracca. Also, the horse’s tail used by Enzo was pointing upward, instead of downward as seen on Baracca’s horse. Moreover, to pay tribute to his birthplace, the city of Modena, Enzo used a canary yellow background, this being the color of Modena. The prancing horse logo is also called cavallino rampante and is now a trademark of Ferrari. This design is seen on Ferrari’s official stationary. Many other companies, however, are also using a similar design. One such company is Avanti, an Austrian company with over 100 fuel stations. A certain Fabio Taglioni, too, used a similar logo, on his Ducati motorbikes.

Besides being famous for its cars and its role in car racing, Ferrari has also many other products to boast of. It has eyewear, pens, pencils, perfume, clothing, bicycles, cell phones, and laptop computers, to name a few. Because of this, Ferrari is able to provide more job opportunities for people; thus, not surprisingly, Ferrari earned the top spot in Financial Time’s list of 100 Best Workplaces in Europe for the year 2007.

At present, Fiat controls at least 85% of Ferrari. Enzo’s son Piero owns 10% of Ferrari, while Mubada has a 5% share of Ferrari. Presently, Ferrari is under the capable hands of Amedeo Felisa who replaced Jean Todt just recently. The former Chief Executive Offer Jean Todt, continues to be a member of the board of directors, and thus, will still have a hand in the Ferrari organization.