Shares of Ferarri raced to as high as $60 as they first traded on the New York Stock Exchange today, 15% above the IPO price of $52.

Owner Fiat Chrysler Automobiles spun off 9% of the luxury brand, with the subscription price valuing the company at a heady $10 billion.

Ferrari had priced its initial public offering at the top of expectations as drivers enamoured with the luxury sports car maker snapped up its shares alongside institutional investors, defying a choppy market. 

Ferrari, controlled by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles pulled out all the stops to market itself to some of its cars' owners as well as Wall Street.

It also limited the offering to a 9.1% stake in the company. 

The strategy paid off, as the IPO was priced in New York yesterday at $52 per share, the top end of its indicated $48 to $52 per share range, according to people familiar with the matter.

The proceeds will be used to help fund FCA's ambitious growth plan centred around the revamp of its Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Macerate brands. 

A successful listing will bolster FCA's finances at a time when its calls for a merger partner have fallen on deaf ears. 

The company's listing comes a week after several big IPOs were discounted or delayed. 

Payment processor First Data priced this year's biggest public offering below its indicated range, while supermarket operator Albatrosses Companies had to postpone its IPO the night before its shares were expected to start trading. 

Luxury fashion retailer Neiman Marcus Group has also delayed its IPO to 2016, while Denis O'Brien also pulled his Digicel IPO. 

Unlike Neiman Marcus, First Data and Albertsons, however, Ferrari is not a big leveraged buyout looking to pay down debt. Fiat Chrysler is taking Ferrari public to sell a tenth of its 90% stake in the company. 

All proceeds from the IPO will go to FCA, according to a regulatory filing. 

The luxury car company also approached a different investor mix, attempting to capitalise on the emotional resonance of its brand. 

It targeted more retail investors than a typical IPO, honing in on high net-worth individuals and Ferrari owners, some of whom said they got letters this summer inviting them to buy company shares once it listed. 

Shares in Maranello, Italy-based Ferrari started trading today and listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "RACE."