Ferrari F8 Reviews

Wealthy people around the world are snapping up Ferraris and the company is worried the brand might lose its appeal as a symbol of rarefied luxury. As a result, it will scale back production to below 7000 units this year, compared with 7318 last year. “The exclusivity of Ferrari is fundamental for the value of our products,” Chairman Luca Montezemolo told journalists at the company headquarters near Modena, in northern Italy. “We don't sell a normal product. We sell a dream.” Ferrari sales were up 4 per cent in the first quarter, to 1800 units. Mr Montezemolo said he will provide a detailed outlook in the coming months but estimated the drop in unit sales this year will be greater than 1 per cent or 2 per cent. Revenues in the first quarter of the year were up 8 per cent to 551 million euros (approximately $708 million), yielding a net profit of 80.5 million euros (approximately $103 million), which is an increase of 42 per cent over the same period of last year. Mr Montezemolo said Ferrari's engine business - which supplies motors to Maserati, which is also owned by Fiat SpA - will help keep revenues on track as it scales back unit sales. Ferrari recently invested 40 billion euros (approximately $51 billion) in a new V6 engine plant to supply Maserati. The plant began work in January with 100 workers, and there are plans to add another 100 as production builds up. The strength of the Ferrari brand, besides generating more demand than Ferrari cares to supply, also has boosted merchandising, which last year generated 52 million euros ($67 million) in profits. But the chairman dismissed any notion that Ferrari would become a “shirt and polo” company. Mr Montezemolo said that Fiat, Ferrari's main shareholder, supports the move to limit production. And he ruled out an IPO for Ferrari, a possibility that analysts have floated as Fiat looks to merger with its unit Chrysler. Global demand is helping Ferrari buck the ongoing Italian recession. The company is hiring 250 blue collar workers this year as it boosts engine production for Maserati, which has launched the new Quattroporte and will follow soon with the smaller Ghibli as part of Fiat's plans to focus on higher-margin luxury cars to return its European operations to profitability. Mr Montezemolo said Ferrari will invest another 100 million euros ($129 million) in 2013-2015 on new facilities. In all, Ferrari employs 3000 people to produce five production models based on V-8 and V-12 engines. It also makes limited edition exclusives, like the hybrid La Ferrari shown this year at the Geneva Motor Show and which has already sold out to a selected 499 clients, in addition to the Formula 1 program.  All of it, from the foundry for engine heads to an 'atelier' where clients customise their Ferrari's down to the stitching on the leather seats, is located on a leafy green complex that employees can navigate on bicycle. The factory produces 32 cars a day, with one 8am to 5pm shift on the assembly line. “In all of our 7000 cars a year, there doesn't exist one that is like any other,” Mr Montezemolo said. “For me, exclusivity is the strength of the brand. I don't like to speak of luxury. I like to speak of beauty and taste.” The United States remains Ferrari's main market in terms of unit sales, followed by Chinese-speaking nations, Germany and then Britain. Currently, Europe and the Middle East contribute 52 per cent of revenues, America 20 per cent and Asia 30 per cent. By 2017, Mr Montezemolo wants to shift the distribution to 30 per cent each from America and Asia and 40 per cent from Europe and the Middle East. Mr Montezemolo said there are two things that Ferrari will never do as long as he is running the show: make a smaller Ferrari or an all-electric vehicle.  

Ferrari has denied claims it is already at work on a more extreme version of its LaFerrari supercar. The claims were made in an article from Autocar, which has since pulled the original post from its website. The British outlet had based its claims on an interview with the LaFerrari’s chief designer, Flavio Manzoni, in which he said: “When we were producing the original design proposals for LaFerrari, there was one proposal that I thought was especially beautiful. So we decided to keep that one back for something truly special in the future.” Speaking with Carsales, a spokesman for Ferrari said there were no plans whatsoever to build additional, limited edition versions of the LaFerrari, which itself will be limited to just 499 units in total. As for Manzoni’s comments, the spokesman said there were numerous design proposals for the LaFerrari, some of which are being closely guarded by Ferrari as the company would like to use them in the future. He went on to explain that this was incorrectly interpreted by Autocar as confirmation of a more extreme LaFerrari model. “It is entirely normal that some design flourishes will be held back for future products,” the spokesman said. “If we showed all our designs now, they might be stolen by the competition and used by others.” Ferrari’s official rebuttal of the claims should be welcome news to the 499 lucky buyers offered a build slot for the new LaFerrari. As for that “truly special” model mentioned by Manzoni, it’s possible that it could be something along the lines of the original FXX experimental car, which despite being based on the previous Enzo featured its own unique look. www.motorauthority.com  

The LaFerrari supercar is already the fastest and most powerful road car ever built by Ferrari, and if the automaker’s performance claims are to be believed it could just be the most capable production car the world has ever known.For its latest flagship, Ferrari is claiming a 0-100km/h time of under 3.0 seconds, a 0-300km/h time of 15 seconds and a top speed in excess of 350km/h. But could the LaFerrari’s performance envelope be lifted even higher? According to a new report, Ferrari plans to do just that.Autocar, citing LaFerrari designer Flavio Manzoni, reports that there are plans underway for a more extreme version of the car that could be sold in very limited numbers. We’re talking less than ten examples here. “When we were producing the original design proposals for LaFerrari, there was one proposal that I thought was especially beautiful,” Manzoni said. “So we decided to keep that one back for something truly special in the future.”Manzoni didn’t give any hints as to what this more extreme LaFerrari could be, though something along the lines of the previous Enzo supercar’s FXX track version is a possibility and is likely at some point in the car’s life cycle. Another possibility is a lightweight version developed using construction techniques previewed on 2007’s Millechili concept car. The Millechili weighed just 998kg, while the LaFerrari has a dry weight of 1255kg.According to another report from Automotive News (subscription required), Ferrari engineers had envisaged a kerb weight similar to that of the Millechili for the new LaFerrari and even proposed using a twin-turbocharged 3.0 litre V8 engine, though had to change plans when senior management insisted on a naturally-aspirated V12 and hybrid setup.Whatever Ferrari has in store for its more extreme LaFerrari, expect pricing to reach as high as $5 million or perhaps even more. As we’ve seen with Lamborghini’s Veneno, there’s no shortage of well-heeled buyers ready to drop serious cash on limited edition supercars.www.motorauthority.com

News of the stunt first broke a few weeks ago when video, filmed by the father, Mohammed Nisham, went viral on YouTube. The video showed the boy driving the mid-engine supercar on a residential street and with a friend in the passenger seat. Police eventually became aware of the video and have since charged Nisham for encouraging underage driving and for allowing an unlicensed child to drive a vehicle, according to the Times Of India.  Nisham is alleged to have said he allowed his son to drive the car as a surprise on his ninth birthday, after the boy had pleaded for months for permission. The boy’s mother, meanwhile, is alleged to have said that she was proud of her son’s driving skill and was hoping to encourage him. The boy is reported to have driven some of the family’s other vehicles including a Lamborghini and Bentley. While we love to see young people show an interest in cars, allowing a nine-year-old to drive a 360 kilowatt Ferrari is incredibly stupid, especially when you consider that the boy can barely see over the dash, is unlicensed and thus uninsured, and there are several people including children also on the road. www.motorauthority.com <img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="{filedir_1}Ferrari-driving-kid-composite-inpage.jpg" src="{filedir_1}Ferrari-driving-kid-composite-inpage.jpg" style="width: 650px; height: 366px;" /><br />  </p>

Swiss firm Hublot, maker of the world’s most expensive watch, the Bing Bang 5 Million, so named because of its $5 million pricetag, has announced a new watch celebrating Ferrari’s latest flagship supercar, the LaFerrari.The new watch, called the MP-05 “LaFerrari,” won’t set you back as much as some of Hublot’s other products, although getting one may be challenge since only 50 examples will be produced.Hublot’s MP-05 “LaFerrari” has been designed, developed and manufactured entirely by the Swiss firm and features a 50-day power reserve--a world record power reserve for a hand-wound tourbillon watch.The 50-day power reserve is thanks to the watch’s 11-barrel design, arranged in a line just like a spinal column and interconnected so that they do not each discharge in turn but support each other. On initial glance, the design almost resembles a miniaturized version of one of Ferrari’s engines.The hour and minute are displayed to the right of the barrels, also indicated by means of one anodized black aluminum cylinder each. On their left is the cylinder indicating the power reserve. Reinforcing bars either side, made from anodized red aluminum, also bring to mind Ferrari's signature exteriors.The face is sapphire crystal, designed to prevent scratches, and this sits within a titanium case finished in black. More titanium and even some carbon fiber add accents to the design.Hublot is the current timekeeper for both Ferrari and its racing division Scuderia Ferrari,  having inked a five-year deal back in 2011 to become the fourth watch company to have the honor. Others have included Girard Perregaux, Panerai and Cabestan.www.motorauthority.com 

From the same group that brought us videos of a Rolls-Royce Phantom going off-road and a Ferrari Enzo being driven in rally conditions, comes a new one, this time featuring two Ferrari F50s throwing dirt and then playing a game of tug of war.Why? Because Tax The Rich. The group’s mission is to bring you footage of supercars being used in the most unlikely manner, so you can bet there will be more outlandish videos to come. As for their latest video, they’ve chosen two pristine-looking examples of one of Ferrari’s former flagship models, the F50.The F50 may not be the wall poster favorite that the earlier F40 and newer Enzo and LaFerrari models may be, but, with only 349 examples ever built, plus an F1-derived V12 in its engine bay, the F50 remains one of the most sought-after Ferrari models ever produced and is still worth the small fortune.Luckily, neither of the examples here ended up landing in a ditch or crashing into a wall. Watch the desktop version of the Ferrari F50 tug-of-war video here.www.motorauthority.com 

It’s a well-known fact that Jamiroquai lead singer Jay Kay is an avid car nut. His cars have often featured in his music videos, including the famous clip for Cosmic Girl which starred a Ferrari F40 and F355 as well as a Lamborghini Diablo, and then there was his album cover for Traveling Without Moving, which featured a logo similar to Ferrari’s own, though instead of the silhouette of a prancing horse Jamiroquai used his own buffalo man.With a F40, F50 and Enzo among his collection, plus countless other exotics, could Jay Kay be one of the 499 lucky people to have secured a build slot for the new LaFerrari hybrid supercar?The singer recently stopped by the Ferrari factory in Maranello to take a close look at the LaFerrari and meet up with Chairman Luca di Montezemolo. According to Ferrari, Kay also spent a long time in the personalisation department, the Tailor-Made Program, to look at all the possible options he could add to his ‘next’ purchase. Could that next purchase be a LaFerrari? We don’t know yet, though we do know Kay certainly loved the car.“It’s an amazing car and, just looking at it makes you want to drive it,” Jay said, upon seeing the LaFerrari. “I think it’s hard to imagine such a concentration of style, technology, performance and excitement all in the one package.”Ferrari’s newest flagship, the LaFerrari is the fastest and most powerful road car ever launched by the company. With 715 kilowatts and more than 900 Newton metres of torque delivered by its V-12 hybrid drivetrain, the LaFerrari will accelerate to 100km/h in under 3.0 seconds, hit 300km/h in 15 seconds and go on to reach an undisclosed top speed in excess of 350km/h.www.motorauthority.com 

Ferrari owners will be better drivers as part of a new Italian commitment to Australia that includes shorter waiting times, better value and more motorsport. Owners will be trained through the Corsa Piloti program as Ferrari works on a closer relationship with its followers after the switch from a local importer to a full factory-owned operation. There is also talk of full-on Formula One demonstration runs and an improved and expanded dealer network downunder. “These are things that a private importer cannot do. We're here for the owners and the customers,” says Herbert Appleroth, the newly-appointed head of Ferrari Australasia. “Where we have mature markets we prefer a 1-1 relationship with our customers. We have 61 years with Ferrari in Australia and they have a deep knowledge of the brand and our motorsport DNA. In line with that, they expect a direct relationship with the factory.” The driving school is typical of the bigger commitment, since it is costly and complicated. “It's one-to-one training, with our factory trainers and in our fleet of cars. It will happen in quarter four . . . in Sydney and Melbourne,” Appleroth promises. Ferrari grew steadily with more than 1000 deliveries under the previous relationship with European Automotive Imports, a company owned by Neville Crichton, but Appleroth says he cannot commit to extra cars. “This is not a about a revolution, it's about an evolution with ongoing levels of service,” he says. “We expect some growth in the marketplace, but it's really the quality of the cars and customers. We expect single-figure growth, year-on-year.” But there is a solid commitment to cutting the wait for a new Ferrari. “We have worked on reducing the waiting list time. The market has changed and people will now not wait three or four years. Part of my role is to ensure the waiting lists don't last much more than 12 months.” On the competition side, Appleroth - who hosted a giant Fire-and-Ice party for owners during the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne - is hoping to lift things to a new level. “We're investigating bringing the Ferrari Facing Days to Australia. That's where we bring the Ferrari world, including the full fleet of F1 cars, the ex-Clienti cars like the FXX, and the Ferrari Challenge series. “We are in discussions with the Australian Grand Prix and other race categories about bringing the Ferrari Challenge to Australia. That might not be in someone else's event, but in our Ferrari racing days.” Appleroth says Ferrari owners in Australia are some of the most committed and he promises a payback from company headquarters in Maranello. “Australians spend an average of more than $50,000 a car on bespoke items. So we will be bringing a whole new level of customer engagement. It's a personal concierge. It's bringing Ferrari events to Australia that have never come before, with a focus on the motorsport DNA. It's just a whole new level.”  

A handful of the fastest, most powerful and most capable Ferrari ever built -- the LaFerrari unveiled at last month’s Geneva motor show -- will likely become static collector pieces in Australia. The only time they can be driven in anger is on a private racetrack because it will be made in left-hand-drive only. Despite the hurdles Ferrari Australasia says it has been overwhelmed by the response to the prancing horse’s most technically advanced car, and it is now sorting through the customer applications to be invited to buy one of the rare machines. “We’ve received more than 20 CVs to be invited to buy the car,” the president and CEO of Ferrari Australasia, Herbert Appleroth, told News Limited. “Australia won’t be allocated anywhere near that amount so we are going through the applications now.” Australia and New Zealand are expected to get fewer than five of the 499 cars to be made over the next three years. As is customary among supercar makers, Ferrari will not reveal who is on the list of potential buyers. But famous Ferrari supercar owners and car collectors in Australia include transport magnate Lindsay Fox, car dealer Laurie Sutton and retired Coca-Cola chief executive Dean Wills, who also owns a private road on the northern outskirts of Sydney. “We never reveal the identity of our buyers and we certainly never reveal the identity of our collectors,” Appleroth said. Ferrari says famous and high profile people won’t necessarily qualify to be eligible for a LaFerrari “invitation to purchase”. “It doesn’t matter if you’re famous or not. It’s not based on who you are. The decision is based on loyalty and passion for Ferrari,” Appleroth said. “You would not believe the famous people who won’t be invited to purchase.” Ferrari and other exotic car makers are keen to avoid selling their most prestigious models to Hollywood stars and music artists. Some rappers, such as 50 Cent, and singers, such as Justin Bieber, have a reputation for “pimping” their rides with gaudy colour schemes, lowered suspension and oversized chrome wheels, which the car makers say detract from the engineering integrity of the vehicles and the image of their brand. Ferraris have proven to be a good investment over the years. The world record price for a car sold at auction is a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa that went under the hammer for $US16,390,000 in 2011. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that the value of classic Ferraris have appreciated at a faster rate than gold over the past three years. The LaFerrari is powered by a 6.2-litre V12 engine matched to a high-output electric motor that will boost acceleration once the car is already on the move. Unlike the Toyota Prius, which can idle and move from rest silently using electric power, the LaFerrari is understood to leave the V12 running at idle because customers want to hear the Ferrari engine. Last year Ferrari sold more than 7500 cars globally -- its highest annual tally ever -- and posted its biggest profit based on growth in emerging markets and in particular China. Ferrari sold 1500 cars in its first 53 years in Australia -- and 1000 cars in the past seven years. This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling