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Ferrari chief staying on to launch new models in October

Luca di Montezemolo has been running Ferrari since 1991. That's a whopping 23 years already, and having been born the same year that Ferrari was founded, Montezemolo is now 67 years old. But don't expect him to be stepping down any time soon.
Addressing the rampant rumors circulating the paddock at Monza this weekend, the hereditary Marquis of Montezemolo (pictured above at the unveiling of the 458 Speciale in Frankfurt last year) insisted that he is not about to leave Ferrari. Not before 2017, anyway, having signed as recently as this past March to stay on another three years. (After that, it's anyone's guess, with some suggesting that controversial Fiat scion Lapo Elkann could take his place.) But in dismissing the rumors, the affable and long-serving Ferrari chairman did reveal some new product plans.
First of all, according to racing site Autosport.com, Luca confirmed that the Prancing Horse marque "will present a fantastic new car" at the Paris Motor Show next month, widely expected to be a new variant of the 458: either the new Speciale Spider or the turbocharged 458 M. While he was at it, though, Montezemolo also revealed a new limited edition model to be presented in California.

Apple announces CarPlay in-car iPhone interface

Apple, maker of tech items like the iPhone, iPad and Mac line of computers, is extending its reach into the automotive market, making a fairly big announcement ahead of the Geneva Motor Show. No, it hasn't bought Tesla (yet). Instead, Apple has announced CarPlay, an all-new means of controlling an iPhone through your car.
Now, this doesn't strike us as some gimmicky thing. It's become increasingly common for automakers to take advantage of the high-speed data streams its customers enjoy on their smartphones in order to integrate navigation, traffic, audio and other infotainment items into a car's touchscreen interface. The Chevrolet Spark and Sonic are two prime examples of this move, using an iPhone's data stream for Siri integration and data for a third-party navigation app.
Owners will be able to plug in their iPhones to their cars via the USB port and gain control of a number of the device's functions, all through a car's touchscreen.

Ferrari threatening to fine journalists $69,000 for breaking LaFerrari embargo?

In automotive journalism, we deal with embargoes on a regular basis. For the uninitiated, these are agreements between publications like Autoblog and manufacturers. While news embargoes (where pubs are provided with information and images and agree to hold until a predetermined date) are fairly common, today, we're focusing on drive embargoes. These are what we generally end up signing when we attend a vehicle launch. Generally, these are in the media's best interest. As drive programs are spread out over a week or two with multiple different "waves" of media, drive embargoes put the biggest and smallest publications on level footing when it comes to publishing reviews.
According to a report from Autocar's Steve Sutcliffe, Ferrari has taken its drive embargo for the LaFerrari hypercar a bit too far. See, initial reviews from the few publications that attended the drive event for the hybrid-powered monster can hit the newsstand or internet on April 30. Originally, syndicated stories - those sold by freelancers or publications to other outlets - couldn't be published until May 12. These syndicated reviews are big money for larger magazines and, in the case of freelance journalists, are a primary source of revenue. Inexplicably, though, Ferrari has pushed the syndication embargo back to May 26, which is bad news for everyone involved (aside from Ferrari).
This could have been nothing more than an annoyance. The stories would still get sold (although it might be for a bit less coin, considering the initial reviews will be nearly a month old) and you'll still be bombarded by reviews of the LaFerrari not once, but twice, just as Ferrari planned.