Ferrari 599 2010 News

This patent image may look like an upcoming GTO version of Ferrari’s F12 Berlinetta, but it’s actually the first official hint at the upcoming one-off Ferrari SP Arya supercar. Comissioned by petrochemical magnate Cheerag Arya, the SP Arya will be based on the previous 599 V12 supercar, and built by Ferrari’s Special Projects team. The SP Arya will be the sixth model to emerge from Ferrari’s bespoke skunkworks, following the Eric Clapton SP12 EC, the 430-based SP1, the P540 Superfast Aperta, the Superamerica 45, and the 612 GTS Pavesi. Like its predecessors, this patent image leaked to Car News China suggests the SP Arya will feature unique bodywork, blending details from the F12 Berlinetta and the flagship GTO version of the 599.  The hockey stick headlights, front facia and side scallops are clear F12 references, while the quarter panel winglets and the glasshouse and doorframes are pure 599 GTO. Arya has already accrued a formidable collection of prancing horses in his 32 years, which include an F40, Enzo, and a 599XX, and reportedly chose the SP Arya’s design from twelve concept sketches. Whether the Ferrari SP Arya will ever make a public debut is unclear, but is expected to be completed in the near future. This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn    

The new, big sister to the 458 Italia aims to put down about 525kW from its 6.2-litre, direct injection V12 engine borrowed from the four-seater FF. But the front-engined coupe won't get the FF's all-wheel drive system - rather will keep the weight (and price) down with rear-wheel drive through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. It won't even expand on Ferrari's carbon-fibre program, sticking with an aluminium chassis and body panels. It follows the limited-edition track-only 560kW 599XX launched in December that traditionally signifies the tail-end of a model series. The new car is known inside Ferrari as the F152 but has more recently been dubbed the 620. Ferrari Australia says the 620 name is just - at this stage - speculation, though carries some logic. It would signify a 6.2-litre engine with a superfluous "0'' to hint at its engine.  But Ferrari seems intent on keeping names as unpredictable as possible - the FF carries no numbers; the 458 indicates 4.5 litres and eight cylinders but is actually a 4.8-litre unit; the "F'' prefix is added and removed at whim - such as F360 but 458; and after Maranello, Modena, California and Italia, Ferrari is running out of choice geographical names. The 599-replacement (which is the most accurate name to date) goes on display at next month's Geneva motor show. It will stabilise the range at four models, adding to the 458, California and FF.

As Australians go through the discussion about same sex marriage, Americans also face the same issues. The American Family Association argues that if marriage laws are relaxed, we will soon legally be able to marry anything – even our cars. And that’s a proposal that had the Carsguide journalists shopping for confetti quicker than you can say ‘I do’. “I’ll take the Lamborghini Aventador to be my lawfully wedded wife, because it’s the Batman car - and I’ve got a thing for Batman,” Mark Hinchliffe confesses - but declines to discuss whether his current wife knows of his Gotham obsession. “I’d turn up at the altar with the Ferrari 599 FTB Fiorano, not because of its tongue-tangling name or because it’s the greatest car I’ve ever driven but because it’s a gorgeous, feisty Italian - and I’m married to one of those, so must have a thing for them,” says Ged Bulmer (with the nous of a man who wants to ensure he stays happily married to one of them).     “I’ll hook up the classic 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing,” says Karla Pincott. “But it will have to be an illicit elopement – that car isn’t the marrying kind.” “I’d be prepared to enter a civil union - as endorsed by the ALP - with the new BMW 328i,” says Paul Pottinger. “It’s sleek, fast, desirable and will grow on you. In other words, it possesses many of the qualities I would like in myself.” “My bride would be a Porsche because I like the German efficiency that means it would keep things clean, its cute rounded tail and the sensual sound it makes when going hard at high revs,” volunteers Neil Dowling bravely.

Set to be at the top of the street legal Ferraris, the 599 GTB will be officially unveiled at Geneva motor show in March, but has been snapped testing by spy photographer group, Carparazzi. Under the bonnet – rather than at the rear -- will be a version of the 6.3-litre V12 also carried by the four-seater FF all-wheel-drive – however the 599 GTB will be rear-wheel drive, via a seven-speed DSG transmission. Considerable work has been done with advanced aluminium technologies to reduce weight, and with a tipped 520kW of power, is likely to get to 100km/h in about 3.2 seconds and have a top speed above 340km/h.

But it is the European brands who are trumping the locals with a range of concepts and production cars intended to tap into the sales boom and gold rush in China. Mercedes-Benz shows its Shooting Break wagon, Volkswagen has the new Phaeton flagship, Audi has a long-wheelbase A6, BMW has a new four- door coupe and Ferrari has its F599 GTO to make the running.The 45 local brands are doing their best - with Great Wall alone showing nine new models - but they are the entree for the main course choices from Europe. The big news from the Chinese carmakers - including Australian start-ups Chery, Geely and Great Wall - is a strong emphasis on green cars, mostly fully-electric plug-ins but with a smattering of hybrids.A total of 95 alternate-energy vehicles are spread through the nine giant, pulsating, colourful stands at the Beijing Exhibition. Even Volkswagen is using China Auto 2010 to push its electric strategy, promising to start local production of plug-ins between 2013 and 2014."As China becomes Volkswagen's most important market around the world, achievement in the electric-vehicle segment in China is key," says Martin Winterkorn, global chief of VW.Holden is helping GM make a Beijing splash with the latest version of the Volt, a boxy five-door SUV concept, which was built by the design crew at Fishermans Bend. It is impossible to underestimate the importance of the biggest motor show in China, as first-quarter sales in the country rocketed to 4.7 million vehicles this year.Most full-year sales forecasts for 2010 are set in the 16.2 to 16.5 million range, well ahead of the USA and fueled by overall economy growth which continues to run in the 8-9 per cent, year-on-year.

The three companies with Australia in their sights - Great Wall, Chery and Geely - are all expected to unveil new value-driven compacts and SUVs at the country's biggest annual motoring event.  Great Wall is the only brand with vehicles already in local showrooms, a dual-cab ute and SUV, but Chery and Geely will both hit the road down under before the end of 2010.BYD, a technology leader for China, is also planning to reveal its first plug-in electric cars in Beijing although it currently has no plans to sell overseas.  All 47 of China's manufacturers are expected to have something new at the show, with a move away from the copycat designs of the past - everything from the Rolls-Royce Phantom to the BMW X5 was either parodied or duplicated - to unique Chinese designs."They will all show their new export cars," says Ric Hull, the Ateco Automotive executive responsible for the Great Wall and Chery brands.  Hull says the Chinese car industry is advancing so rapidly it is hard to keep tabs on the new-model action."I think everything has to be seen in the context of the market. The Chinese made and sold about 13.6 million vehicles last year, and the US was 10.4 million," he says.  "They have not only eclipsed the US, they have gone way beyond them. In good years the US is 17 million, but the Chinese are there already."In the first quarter of this year, they have sold 4.6 million vehicles. So you're now talking 18 or 20 million a year. It's just gone bezerk.  "The thing that fascinates me most is how anyone can lift production to those levels. I don't believe the Japanese could do it, or even the Koreans."Hull says Ateco is already on track with additions to the Great Wall range including a single-cab ute, with Chery to hit first with a compact SUV.  "We'll launch Chery in August. It has just been an agonizing process to get the compliance issues in place, but it will be fine."I'm hoping to launch a RAV4-kind of vehicle at a really good price.  "Great Wall are talking about a 1.5-litre car that we'll introduce before the end of the year. They are getting there and getting there awfully, awfully quickly."Hull says he is expecting rapid improvement in Chinese vehicles, with quality and safety as top priorities.  Great Wall is just about to face its second ANCAP crash-test barrier in Australia and, following the miserable two-star result for the ute, Hull is hoping for a four-star rating for the brand's SUV."We took a hammering from NCAP on the utes but Great Wall reacted and they have made a lot of changes," Hull says.  Car sales in China are so important that all the world's major makers will be displaying in Beijing.Even though many skipped last year's Tokyo Motor Show, previously the world's equal number one with Frankfurt every two years, no-one can afford to miss the biggest motoring event in China.  There were more than a dozen world previews at the last Beijing show and a lot of the action is at the upmarket end of the business in 2010.Ferrari is unveiling its new go-faster flagship, the 599 GTO, and Mercedes-Benz will reveal an update of the $1.5 million Maybach ultra- luxury limousine.

Europe is back in business, celebrating the end of the global financial crisis that rocked the car world and drove the biggest of them all - General Motors - into bankruptcy.There were green shoots of happiness at the Frankfurt Motor Show in late 2009, but this week's Geneva Motor Show shows the same sort of excitement and promise of an early spring morning in Europe.Every carmaker has something new in Geneva, from full-blown production models to quirky concepts. The Swiss show is often dismissed as a sideshow but this time, with 25 new models as diverse as the Nissan Micra and Porsche Cayenne, there is serious action on every front.Carmakers are predictably focussed on green solutions to meet the challenges of fuel economy and CO2 emissions - with Fiat even showing a tiny two-cylinder engine for its funkoid 500 - but there is also room for fun.  How else do you describe a Honda city concept that looks like a 20th-century take on the unicycles used by Circe du Soleil acrobats?But even the green machines have turned mean as Ferrari shows its 599 Vettura Labratorio hybrid, although BYD from China balanced things with its fully-electric E6 hatch.Porsche also has its 918 supercar concept and both it and the Ferrari tap Formula One technology with KERS hybrid packs - that's Kinetic Energy Recovery System - to store energy for a quick, explosive boost of extra power.Porsche plans to put the 918 into production but, as yet, Ferrari is only using the super-special 599 - painted symbolically in green instead of the Italian brand's signature red - as a rolling labratory.  "We want to understand how to use this technology. We are not yet at the point to see it in a road going Ferrari," says Amedeo Felisa, Ferrari's CEO.The upbeat mood at Geneva is captured by the top man at Bentley, Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen, who says the reaction to his company's Mulsanne and Supersports models has filled him with confidence after a shocking 2009.  "There is a feeling that it is behind us," Paefgen says as super-wealthy Bentley buyers emerge from their GFC-proof bunkers.Walking the stands at Geneva I see green machines that are more than just concepts and plenty of choices for small-car buyers, from budget hatches to baby prestige cars like the Audi A1.  The little Audi gets a rousing reception, Volvo wins praise for the safety and styling of the new S60 sedan and the Alfa Giulietta - replacement for the 147 - raises more questions about the often-promised renaissance for the brand.Lexus shows a compact new CT200h hybrid that brings petrol-electric power to a new group of buyers, Mini has the Countryman with extra ground clearance and the basics for a World Rally Championship challenge in 2011, and the Mitsubishi ASX crossover - test driven this week by Peter Lyon near Tokyo - heads the Japanese contingent.For Alfa fans, the Giulietta is pitched at the Volkswagen Golf with a range of 1.4, 1.6 and 2.0-litre petrol and diesel engines.  BMW’s new 5 Series and a 4-litre six-cylinder X5 diesel creates a predictable buzz among SUV fans.Kia’s head of design, Peter Schreyer, lifts the wraps off the stylish new Sportage, which is due in Australia later this year, with the promise of both turbodiesel and petrol engines, as well as front and all-wheel drive.  The Sportage could be major hit for the Korean brand, matching the impact of the Hyundai ix35, when it goes on sale with an opener in the sub-$30,000 bracket.Ford leverages the first European appearance of its new Focus hatch in Geneva by unveiling the Focus wagon, which at this stage is a Europe-only car. Europeans are big wagon buyers and the wagon is expected to account for one-third of all Focus sales there.But the Focus wagon is only the halfway point - the fifth of 10 proposed models - using the same basic building blocks and the future includes a Focus electric car. Currently, the wagon, hatch, sedan and C-Max and Grand C-Max all share the same underpinnings.“We are now using our global resources to develop cars for all countries, including Australia,” says Ford's technical chief, Derrick Kuzak.  He also reveals the current Europe-only Kuga compact SUV and North American Escape will be replaced by a single global car, which could head to Australia, and hints that a hot performance Focus with a more-powerful version of Ford’s 2.0-litre Ecoboost turbo engine will also be available in Australia.Lexus uses Geneva to showcase its critically important CT 200h hybrid, which it hopes to become a volume player.  But the CT 200h is not the only car to push the green theme at the affordable end.Hyundai has the stylish turbocharged 1.7-litre i-flow concept sedan, which uses a lithium-ion battery pack with six-speed dual-clutch transmission, and it is joined by the ix35 FCEV hydrogen fuel-cell car and Opel’s Flextreme GT-E.Apart from Ferrari, Porsche shows off its GT3 R Hybrid - also with KERS - and 918 Spyder, both exploring the outer limits of hybrid drivetrains for race and road cars.  The Cayenne, along with the VW Touareg, share their hybrid debuts as Audi uses the first appearance of its baby A1 to reveal a full-electric E-tron concept that joins earlier R8-based plug-in supercars.Apart from the conventional petrol and diesel A1, Audi also adds the RS5 coupe to its A5 lineup and a hybrid A8 sedan. The RS5 gets a powerful 335kW/430Nm 4.2-litre V8, quattro all-wheel drive and seven-speed S-tronic dual clutch gearbox.Like the BMW-built Mini, Audi has several distinctly styled A1s on its stand. It says owners will have access to so much customisation that no two A1s will be exactly the same.Audi has the Mini firmly in its sights with an expected starting price around $33,000 for the A1, with a three-door car to kick of sales with a five-door and cabrio expected. The range-topper is expected to be an S version with a performance-tuned turbo four cylinder engine.Citroen springs one of the few real surprises of the show with its hot-pink Survolt sportscar while Giugiaro teams up with Proton to deliver a stylish hybrid city car.  The Survolt is a pure design fantasy with no likely production expected. The showcar did not even have an engine and Citroen says it has been designed to go electric.Apart from the sleek Citroen, two Italian styling houses - Pininfarina and Bertone - have show cars based on Alfa Romeo mechanical parts. Bertone returns to Geneva for the first time in two years with the Pandion 2+2 concept coupe and Pininfarina shows the two-seater 2uettottanta.Apart from the twin concepts, Citroen has the DS3 Racing as well as its DS High Rider three door, a pointer to the next-generation C4, which is due to be launched next year as a five-door.  The company will only build 1000 versions of the DS3 racing and the head of local importer Ateco Automotive, Neville Crichton, says he would like to bring a few to Australia but will initially focus on launching the DS range.“It certainly is a good looking thing,” Crichton says.  Mercedes-Benz continues to create a buzz at Geneva with its SLS Gullwing supercar but the F800 Style, a pointer to the next-generation CLS minus its cantilever rear doors, dominates the Mercedes stand and shares the limelight with the E-Class cabriolet.Fitting in the quirky category in Geneva is Aston Martin’s Cygnet hatch, a remake of Toyota’s iQ city car. The $50,000 makeover model will only be sold to existing Aston Martin customers.  Aston Martin boldly has the Cygnet right next to its four-door flagship sports car, the Rapide.

Ferrari emphatically rejects any potential for an all-electric supercar in its future.  The company's chief, Amedeo Felisa, says sound is such an important part of any Ferrari that a silent battery car will not be acceptable to customers who buy into its high-priced V8 and V12-powered road rockets. "We cannot do one," Felisa says, speaking in Sydney this week at the opening of a new landmark dealership and the local preview of the 458 Italia. "The sound is so important.  "It's part of the development of our cars. The sound of the Ferrari … is part of the image of the brand." He also questions whether electric cars are truly the answer to the needs of future motoring "If you look at global warming, full electric is not the solution. It is a marketing solution.  "Hybrid, but done in a proper way, is the best solution. But it needs a lot of development to be done." Ferrari is heading fast into the hybrid world and is set to unveil a petrol-electric 599 at the Geneva Motor Show next month in Europe before starting sales of a hybrid California in 2011. "We have to face the fact that the future brings something new in engineering. We have to face the new challenges," Felisa says.  He says the 599 hybrid will have a battery pack weighing around 100 kilograms with an electric engine integrated into the existing powertrain as a booster for the V12 petrol motor. The car will also run on pure electric power, but only at low speeds in city use. Development work is already into the second phase, heading for production use, following more than four years of research and development.  "We have a car that has been running for one year. Now we are doing the second step . . .  how to apply that technology to Ferrari cars." He says the 599 hybrid is fully operation but stresses it is only a concept car and not ready for production.  "This is not a new car, it is the concept," he says.  On the electric front, Felisa says Ferrari has considered a plug-in car but the noise problem cannot be overcome. Not even with the sort of active noise systems being developed by another sports car maker, Lotus, for more pedestrian brands. "We don't like to do it. It is not just a noise, it is the sound coming from our cars, from the engine, from the exhaust, from the gearbox, from the road," he says.  "We don't just put speakers in the car to make a noise."  

Ferrari has created a one-off special-edition Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano that will be auctioned at a charity event in Beijing next month. What makes the car different is its paint scheme. This one-of-a-kind Ferrari has been given the once-over by celebrated Chinese artist Lu Hao. Instead of Ferrari's signature red or yellow, Lu Hao has used a "cracked glaze" paint pattern of the coveted Song Dynasty-era Ge Liln porcelain, signed by the artist himself. There is also a jade engine starter button, luggage featuring a map of the Silk Road trade route, Chinese script instruments and a name plaque. The glazed V12 sportscar is one of 12 special edition 599 China models that will be sold in China. Lu Hao was also responsible for the paint scheme on the other cars. However, they are less polarising. The artist opted for a body done in red - a Ferrari shade called Rosso Fuoco, or fire red - but the pillars and roof are painted a shade of medium grey. "The 599 China Limited Edition model is a true masterpiece, combining rich Chinese artistic heritage with Italian design in stunning approach," according to Ferrari Asia Pacific CEO Marco Mattiacci.

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