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Why newly independent Ferrari may be forced into fuel-efficient cars

The repercussions from Ferrari's pending transition into an independent automaker won't be understood for some time, but one of the biggest consequences could be that the iconic Italian marque will be forced into building more fuel-efficient vehicles.
As Wired points out, while Ferrari built fewer than 7,000 cars in 2013, its status as a public company could trigger pressure from shareholders to build more six-figure supercars and grand tourers. In turn, doing so could lead the company afoul of US Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, which dictate that any company that sells over 10,000 vehicles needs to maintain a certain fuel economy average across its fleet or risk fines.
With arguably its most popular model, the 458 Italia, hitting just 17 miles per gallon on the highway and its most efficient model, the turbocharged California T, stuck at 18 mpg, Ferrari isn't in a great place to hit the government's mandates (which are somewhat convoluted as Wired explains). The gist of the situation is that Ferrari will either need to continue limiting the number of vehicles it sells each year - a move that's certain to upset shareholders and irk its boss, Sergio Marchionne - or radically improve the fuel economy of its cars at the risk of performance. Rock, meet hard place.

Race Recap: 2013 German Grand Prix is old beginnings, new endings [spoilers]

Just like at Silverstone last weekend, the German Formula One Grand Prix started with Lewis Hamilton putting his Mercedes-AMG Petronas on pole. The only thing missing at the pointy end of the grid was his teammate Nico Rosberg, who lined up beside him in England but back in 11th in Germany because of a team error in qualifying. So instead it was Vettel in the first Infiniti Red Bull in second, his teammate Mark Webber in third, the Lotus duo of Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean.
Again, just like at Silverstone - and Canada - Daniel Ricciardo used his magic beans to impress with the Toro Rosso, lining up in sixth, followed by Felipe Massa in the first Ferrari, Fernando Alonso in the second. Jenson Button in the McLaren, Nico Hülkenberg finished up the top ten.
When the lights went green, it didn't take long for the race to become a black-and-blue affair...

Ferrari releases teaser video for 458 Speciale

As is the specs weren't enough, Ferrari is helping us get ready for the reveal of the 458 Speciale at the Frankfurt Motor Show with a short teaser video. You won't get much in the way of a full-body modeling session, naturally, but there are plenty of close-ups of its intakes, scoops, vanes, seriously racy bucket seats and lots and lots of carbon fiber.
And showing how omnipresent on-camera surveillance can sometimes be a good thing, the harder 458 has already been caught being tinkered with in digital photos taken at Maranello. For the moving pictures, however, there's that video below.