Ferrari's history from racing team to luxury brand; pictures, details

Ferrari is one of the most valuable brands in the world.

Ferrari — the Italian supercar maker and Formula One racing operation — is worth $27 billion.

Unlike many of its rivals, Ferrari is a racing operation first and car company second.

Ferrari was founded as a racing team with the sale of road cars as a means to fund the racing operation.

In 2018, Ferrari delivered more than 9,250 cars up 10.2% over the previous year.

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Ferrari has come a long way since its start as a fledgling racecar builder more than 70 years ago.

In 2015, Ferrari's IPO on the New York Stock Exchange valued the company at nearly $10 billion. Nearly four years later, the company's market cap has more than double to $27 billion. This makes the carmaker one of the most valuable and recognizable brands in the world; its “prancing horse” logo is synonymous with sex, money and the high life.

Ferrari wasn't always the global luxury brand that's now being traded in New York. The company's early days as a maker of racing cars were rather humble, and it took an Italian-American racing star named Chinetti to begin the transformation into a purveyor of glamorous supercars for the world's well-heeled. The company's success drew takeover interest, and later rivalry, from Ford – before Ferrari became part of Fiat and eventually Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles.

Read more: I drove a $474,000 Ferrari 812 Superfast to see if the sports car delivers a thrill worth the price — here's the verdict.

For many years, Ferrari artificially limited their annual production figures to preserve the exclusivity of their cars. However, since their IPO in the fall of 2015, the company has steadily increased the number of cars it delivers to customers. In 2018, 9,251 new Ferraris found their way to customers around the world, an increase of 852 cars or 10.2% over 2017.

But even at more than 9,000 cars a year, Ferraris are still exceedingly rare. In fact, most of the company's models are supply limited in that its sales are limited not by how many people want to buy a car but by how many they can make.

Here is the story of Ferrari's incredible 70-year journey: