Feliseo Amedeo spoke of bold expansion plans for Ferrari during 2006, as he unveiled the Maranello marque's latest racer, the F430 Challenge.

Ferrari officially presented their exclusive and highly desirable collection of sportscars on an unusually large stand in Frankfurt today. Showing visual signs of much greater design thinking that at recent shows, the opulent display was laid out on several levels.

The highlight of the stand is undoubtedly the new F430 Challenge race car which will be eligible for the Ferrari Trofeo race series' in Italy, Europe and North America, which are fought out by amateur drivers, from the beginning of the 2006 season. Based on the 490bhp V8-engined F430 Coupé - released just a year ago - the F430 Challenge is truly a no-compromise racer. The interior grabs the attention as it has been completely stripped out, all the electronic 'driver aids' being junked in an effort to create a true track car which will allow the drive's skills to shine through. All around the new car, detailing differences reveal the changes that have been made to improve its abilities, for example the panel that usual houses the F430's rear registration plate has been cut out, allowing the twin big-bore exhausts to exit much higher and closer together. Sitting on massive racing wheels which house new carbon-ceramic brakes, and mounted astride a raised platform in the centre of the stand, and reflected in a giant mirror angled above, it looked every inch a Ferrari race car.

The single new F430 Challenge racer presented today was flanked on the luxurious stand by its road-going sisters - the F430 Coupé and Spider, which sat centre stage, side by side. To one side a pair of 612 Scaglietti 2+2s were being shown for the first time in 'Model Year 2006' specification. This offers more opulent interior specification levels - including new leather finishes and sattelite navigation features - while one of them also featured Ferrari's 'GTC Handling Pack', which has now been adapted for this 'Grand Tourer' model. Finally, the 575 M-based V12-engined Superamerica - with its innovative all-glass folding roof - and a Formula One Championship winning F2004 chassis, rounded out the collection.
 

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo kicked off proceedings at a packed Press conference at 11am this morning. He immediately apologised to German Ferrari Formula One fans - on behalf of himself and Michael Schumacher - for the poor showing by the Scuderia this year, and joked that after six consecutive constructors' titles it was time to give their rivals a chance. Ominously for the other F1 teams di Montezemolo promised this would be put right for 2006, saying that "we will be ready next year".

Ferrari director Feliseo Amedeo then took to the stage and told the assembled press of the Prancing Horse marque's continuing commercial successes around the globe, and that this avenue of expansion would help to drive them forward into expanding new markets. Singling out the luxurious new showroom just opened in Beijing, as an example, Amedeo targeted doubling Chinese sales next year. He also wishes to bring the customer waiting list anywhere for a new purchase down to 22 months, while production this year will move above the 5,000 units per year threshold (last year Ferrari sold 4,975 cars). To achieve this expansion, Amedeo revealed that they are presently locked in discussions with the unions to have Maranello working on selected weekends.

Separately, Luca di Montezemolo - in his capacity as Fiat Group Chairman - revealed that an IPO for Ferrari was still on hold, and that if it did happen Fiat would not be selling anymore of their majority controlling stake. "We will not touch the 56 percent," he told journalists. However, he did not rule out a future IPO, saying only that it would "not happen at the moment," but adding that - if it occurred - Mediobanca would then be open to sell part of their shareholding, which currently stands at just over 11 pct.

by Edd Ellison in Frankfurt