did the ferrari company ever make an suv model - something along the
lines of the name "la foreza"?

Hello.

You must be thinking of the Laforza.
http://www.laforza.com/

"The Laforza 4x4 is made in Italy in the Pininfarina factory. It is
primarily for military and police use over there. It has an Alfa Romeo
6-cyl engine in it in Italy.
However, a company called Monster Motorsports in Escondido California
imports them into the USA without the engine and transmission.
There they are equipped with a Ford 5.0 liter V8 and an automatic
overdrive transmission. They are then sold as a luxury SUV with
Ferrari leather and walnut trim."
source: ecars.com.au
http://www.ecars.com.au/Misc/Laforza.html


Technically, the Laforza isn't a Ferrari.  Rather it's built by
Pininfarina.
Pininfarina is separate from Ferrari, but the two companies have a
long history of working together on vehicles. In fact, Pininfarina has
designed and built many of the most famous Ferraris.
See: "History of Cooperation: Ferrari-Pininfarina" for more
information:
http://www.pininfarina.it/eng/history/cooperation/ferrari1.html


For more information on the Laforza, see these newsgroup discussions:

"Subject: Re: What's a LAFORZA?" hosted by Google Groups:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=1991Jul15.020527.4016%40ux1.cso.uiuc.edu

"Subject: Re: LAFORZA SUV ?" hosted by Google Groups
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&client=googlet&selm=01bbb8aa%24bd377520%24LocalHost%40default

"Subject: LaForza half Ford/half Ferrari Luxurious... " hosted by
Google Groups.
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&client=googlet&selm=84066%40ep.com


search strategy: 
google groups:
"ferrari suv"
laforza, pininfarina

I hope this helps.

Thank you for the tip.
-juggler