Ferrari, Maser engines built in new plant - Fiat S.p.A.'s new plant in Maranello, Italy

Engine production for Fiat SpA's Ferrari and Maserati brands is to be consolidated into one new plant, currently under construction at the Prancing Horse's headquarters in Maranello, Italy.

The new factory, built and outfitted at a cost of around $75 million, should be finished in August 2002, though Ferrari plans to start the move from its existing engine facility in September.

Working three shifts, the plant has a capacity of 14,000 engines a year and will build Ferrari V-8 and V-12 engines and Maserati's all-new, normally-aspirated V-8, due to be unveiled in the new Spider in September. The number confirms Ferrari's massive expansion plans for the Maserati brand.

Maserati expects to boost production from last year's 2,027 cars to 9,000 to 10,000 cars annually by 2005, the year after the new Quattroporte sedan is launched, largely by returning to the U.S. market after a decade-long absence.

That leaves 4,000 engines a year for various Ferrari road cars. It also proves that Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has gone back on his 1991 vow to limit annual Ferrari production to 3,500 cars.