Just when you thought that the auto industry has recovered from the global financial crisis, we're hearing reports that Ferrari->ke252 is seriously considering laying off some of its employees and cutting down on production work. According to Bloomberg, Ferrari could end up reducing their workforce by as much as nine percent.

With demand for high-priced supercars going down, Ferrari, which has around 3,000 workers on its payroll, has initiated plans of sacking 120 office positions and 150 factory workers. The news prompted Ferrari employees to walk out of their jobs for four hours last week, further widening the already huge gap between the company and it workers.

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The numbers, of course, speak for themselves, given that Ferrari's first quarter trading profit plummeted by 28 percent despite the company ending up with a $50 million profit. A big reason for the Italian brand's attempt at cutting loose ends could be attributed to its sister company Maserati's struggles in attracting new customers last year. This problem saw Maserati selling only half of the total sales numbers it posted back in 2008.

In addition to that, Ferrari also plans to shut down one of its main production facilities - the one in Maranello - for a full week next week. The plant shut down could end up forcing 600 Ferrari employees into taking a week-long lay-off.

Apparently, it's not all smiles in the land of the Prancing Horse.