Ferrari stock rises 5.7% in first day of trading

Ferrari stock whizzed out of the starting gate on the New York Stock Exchange with a 16 per cent increase over its issue price, and by day's end was up 5.7 per cent.

The company founded by sports driver Enzo Ferrari in 1929 raised $893 million at its IPO and will raise up to $4 billion in the coming year, according to Bloomberg.

The cash goes to owner Fiat Chrysler, which plans to reduce its debt and invest its luxury brands, such as Maserati and Alfa Romeo. Ferrari also might boost production from between 7,000 and 8,000 cars per year now, to 9,000 vehicles by 2019.

In an interview with CNBC from the floor of the NYSE, Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and chairman of Ferrari, said he would not allow increased production to threaten the Ferrari tradition.

"What is at the heart of the brand is this intimate relationship between us and the customer base. We have 60 per cent of the people that buy our cars every year are returning customers," Marchionne said. "And therefore it would be almost suicidal to try and expand volumes to the detriment of that relationship."

The market volatility over the last two months has sunk the hopes of some prospective IPOs, but the Ferrari issue was oversubscribed.