09.04.2004 From dusk until midnight yesterday, the Empire State Building was bathed in red light to celebrate Ferrari’s 50th year in the United States

From dusk until midnight yesterday, the Empire State Building was bathed in red light to celebrate Ferrari’s 50th year in the United States.

The honour, accorded the Prancing Horse to celebrate the arrival of the very first Ferrari to New York and the United States in the spring of 1954, coincided with the New York International Auto Show gala evening. The Show itself opens to the public on April 9th.

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo had this to say to the Italian news agency ANSA: "There has always been a great feeling between the United States and Ferrari. In 1949, in fact, an American of Italian origin, Luigi Chinetti, was the first man to win the Le Mans 24 hour race in a Prancing Horse car. We have a very strong presence here now.

"There are over 20,000 Ferraris on US roads and America’s passion for the marque is growing all the time. We’ll soon be opening a large new showroom on Park Avenue in the heart of Manhattan, too: a further demonstration of how important our cars are to our American clients.

"The fact that Ferrari’s 50 years in the US are being celebrated by illuminating the Empire State Building with red light would have thrilled Enzo Ferrari as much as it does me and anyone else who is proud to be Italian.”

The theme for this year’s New York Show’s gala evening, organised in conjunction with East Side House, a Bronx-based New York charity, was "Gentleman Racing.” The theme was interpreted by Ferrari and Maserati in a very evocative exhibition of some of the most important Prancing Horse and Trident GTs ever built.

The United States is traditionally Ferrari’s largest market in terms of sales. In 2003, its 11th consecutive year of growth, 1,350 Ferraris were delivered to clients, 13% more than in 2002. This goes right against the current trend in a segment which has slumped somewhat in the US.

Ferrari’s main markets in North America are California, the North-East from Boston to Washington via New York and Philadelphia, Florida, Texas, and the Mid-West with Chicago and Detroit as the focal points.

To commemorate its 50th anniversary, Ferrari has created a special inscription which will be applied to all the cars destined for the US market throughout 2004.