Ferrari scoops 3 Auto Trophy reader awards

Just_me · **Ferrari scoops 3 Auto Trophy reader awards -** 11-23-2006, 04:45 PM

The readers of prestigious German automotive magazine Auto Zeitung voted three Ferrari models onto the winners' podium for this year's annual Auto Trophy. The Ferrari F430 coupé and F430 Spider both won their categories while the 599 GTB Fiorano picked up a third place.

In the 'Imported' category for 'super sports' cars, the Ferrari F430 coupé beat the Lamborghini Gallardo to first place after collecting 13.7 percent of the votes compared with 12.3 percent for the Bologna brand's V10 sports car. The Ferrari F430 celebrated its world première at the Paris Mondial de l'Automobile in 2004. It is the first model from the new generation of eight-cylinder Ferrari sports cars, and has already won the Auto Trophy before, as in last year's poll it came out on top. Another Ferrari model also made it to the podium in this category during its very first year in production: the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano came home third in the 'imported super sports car' category with 9.5 percent of the votes cast. The new 12-cylinder Ferrari model was first presented to the world at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year.

The first 599 GTB Fiorano models made their first appearance on the German roads during the summer. Meanwhile the Ferrari F430 Spider repeated its outstanding victory last year in the vote for 'best imported convertible'. With 13.5 percent of the votes cast by the readers it came out on top, placed ahead of the Aston Martin DB9 Volante (12.7 pct) and the Lamborghini Gallardo Spider (8.9 pct) to win the coveted trophy.

This was the 19th time that Auto Zeitung held the competition. This year a total of 93,873 readers took part in the poll. Roberto Fedeli, Technical Director of Ferrari S.p.A., accepted the trophies at the formal awards ceremony, which took place on Tuesday evening at the Meilenwerk venue in Berlin.