# The History of Ferrari | Otto Explains | AutoTronix **Section:** Otto Explains **Canonical:** https://autotronix.om/otto/ferrari-history **Language:** English **Arabic version:** https://autotronix.om/ar/otto/ferrari-history --- ## Short Answer Ferrari grew out of a racing team. Enzo Ferrari, a former Alfa Romeo driver, founded Scuderia Ferrari in Modena in 1929 to race Alfa Romeos, and in 1947 the team became a car maker when the first Ferrari, the 125 S, was built in Maranello. Fiat bought half of the company in 1969, Ferrari became an independent listed company in 2015 and 2016, and today it builds V6, V8 and V12 cars, hybrids and, since 2026, an electric car. --- ## Who was Enzo Ferrari before Ferrari? Enzo Ferrari was born in Modena on 18 February 1898. His first race was the Parma–Poggio Berceto on 5 October 1919, and he joined Alfa Romeo as a driver in 1920. After he won the Circuito del Savio in 1923, the mother of the First World War pilot Francesco Baracca gave him the prancing horse emblem her son had carried on his plane. He spent some twenty years with Alfa Romeo, first as a driver and later running its racing department, Alfa Corse. --- ## How did Scuderia Ferrari begin? Scuderia Ferrari was founded in Modena on 16 November 1929, and approved by the court on 29 November. It began as a racing team, not a car maker: its purpose was to buy Alfa Romeo racing cars and enter them in races, and Alfa Romeo and the tyre maker Pirelli were among its members. --- ## What happened between Alfa Romeo and the first Ferrari? Enzo Ferrari left Alfa Romeo in 1939. A clause in his contract stopped him building cars under his own name for a time, so he founded a company called Auto Avio Costruzioni in the old Scuderia Ferrari headquarters, which made machine tools. It also built a racing car, the 815, named for its 8 cylinders and 1,500 cc. Only two were made, and they raced in the Mille Miglia on 28 April 1940 before the war stopped motor sport. --- ## When did Ferrari become a car maker? In mid-1945 Enzo Ferrari asked the engineer Gioachino Colombo to design a new car around a 12-cylinder engine. That engine was started for the first time on 12 March 1947, in the countryside between Maranello and Formigine, and the 125 S won its first race, the Rome Grand Prix, on 25 May 1947 with Franco Cortese. Ferrari dates its beginning as a manufacturer to that year, when the team ended its partnership with Alfa Romeo. On 15 September 1948 Ferrari showed a car at a motor show for the first time, the 166 MM in Turin. How these early cars shaped the company is told in Otto’s article on the cars that defined Ferrari. --- ## How did racing shape Ferrari between 1949 and 1964? Racing stayed at the centre of the company. A 166 MM gave Ferrari its first Le Mans win in 1949, driven by Luigi Chinetti. Scuderia Ferrari entered its first Formula 1 race at Monaco on 21 May 1950 and won for the first time at Silverstone on 14 July 1951 with José Froilán González. Alberto Ascari gave the team its first Drivers’ title in 1952, Ferrari won its first Constructors’ title in 1961 with Phil Hill as champion, and John Surtees won the 1964 title, the only person to become world champion on both two and four wheels. --- ## Why did Ferrari join forces with Fiat? Enzo Ferrari knew he could no longer carry the cost of racing alone. In 1963 he came close to selling the company to Ford but withdrew before signing, to keep control of the racing department. In 1965 he agreed with Fiat that Fiat would build Ferrari’s Dino V6 engine, so that it could be used in Formula 2. The two companies grew closer, and on 18 June 1969 Enzo Ferrari and Gianni Agnelli signed the contract in Turin: three days later it was announced that Fiat had bought 50% of Ferrari. --- ## What changed between 1972 and 1988? Ferrari opened its own test track at Fiorano, next to the Maranello factory, on 8 April 1972. On the track, Gilles Villeneuve won at Monaco in 1981 with a turbocharged car, and Ferrari took the Constructors’ title with turbo cars in 1982 and 1983. Enzo Ferrari died on 14 August 1988, aged 90. The F40 was the last car he personally signed off. --- ## How did Ferrari become independent from Fiat? Ferrari’s chairman Sergio Marchionne announced a plan to separate it from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). Ferrari was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on 21 October 2015, under the ticker RACE, with 10% of its shares, and on the Milan exchange on 4 January 2016, when the freely traded shares rose to 66% and Ferrari left the FCA Group. After Marchionne died in 2018, John Elkann became chairman, and Benedetto Vigna has been chief executive since 2021. --- ## Who owns Ferrari today, and where is it heading? Ferrari N.V. is a Dutch holding company with its corporate address in Maranello; Ferrari S.p.A. is the Italian operating company. In February 2026 its largest shareholders were Exor, with 21.33% of the common shares, and a trust set up by Piero Ferrari, Enzo’s son, with 10.67%; most of the rest was held by public shareholders. Ferrari now combines combustion, hybrid and electric power: the SF90 Stradale of 2019 was its first plug-in hybrid, and in May 2026 it unveiled the Luce, which it describes as its first electric car. Otto explains the difference between these types in [hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric cars explained](https://autotronix.om/otto/hybrid-vs-plug-in-hybrid-vs-electric). In racing, the 499P won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023 and 2024. --- ## Common Questions **Where does the Ferrari prancing horse come from?** From Francesco Baracca, a First World War pilot who carried a prancing horse on his plane. His mother gave the emblem to Enzo Ferrari after Ferrari won the Circuito del Savio in 1923. **Is Ferrari still owned by Fiat?** No. Ferrari left the FCA Group in 2016 and is a listed company. Its largest shareholder is Exor, with 21.33% of the common shares in February 2026. **What was the first Ferrari?** The 125 S of 1947. Its 12-cylinder engine first ran on 12 March 1947, and it won the Rome Grand Prix on 25 May 1947. **When did Enzo Ferrari die?** On 14 August 1988, at the age of 90. --- ## Related Otto Explanations - Different Engine Designs Explained: Inline, V, Boxer and More: https://autotronix.om/otto/engine-designs-explained - What Is a Vehicle Health Report?: https://autotronix.om/otto/vehicle-health-report --- ## Related Services - AutoTronix PERFORMANCE: https://autotronix.om/performance - Performance Vehicle Health Report: https://autotronix.om/performance/vehicle-health-report - Performance Car Pre-Purchase Inspection: https://autotronix.om/performance/performance-pre-purchase --- ## Book a Service WhatsApp: +968 9966 8600 https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=96899668600&type=phone_number&app_absent=0 Location: Mabellah Industrial, Street 7, Muscat — Saturday to Thursday, 9 AM to 9 PM