Ferrari News

Hard on the heels of a European price guide hitting the web for the yet to be launched Ferrari 599 GTO, images of the newest magic from Maranello have emerged.  And it is hardly surprising that the new GTO looks a lot like the 599XX, including the heavily ventilated bonnet. The ventilated bonnet is necessary to clear the engine heat from the worked over 6.0-litre V12.  Although official details are expected to be revealed on Friday, the GTO is tipped to develop close to 520kW and the V12 will bellow out to 9000 revs. The word is that the mean machine will hit 100km/h in around 3.2 seconds and have a top speed of more than 250km/h.  Ferrari is also said to have shaved weight out of the car, particularly the interior, by as much as 60kg. Only 500 examples are expected to be built for select Ferrari customers.  Leak details of pricing and equipment reveal that the car will cost the equivalent of $461,238 overseas, but by the time you add in the relevant taxes and charges it will be much, much more here.For the equivalent of an extra $11,222 you can get the entire engine compartment fitting out in carbon fibre while an upgraded leather interior will cost $6388 and a bespoke luggage set will cost $8632.

V8 SUPERCARS (After round 3/15)1 Jamie Whincup (Holden)  7712 Mark Winterbottom (Ford)  7143 James Courtney (Ford)  6964 Shane van Gisbergen (Ford)  6305 Lee Holdsworth (Holden)  5736 Craig Lowndes (Holden)  5527 Rick Kelly (Holden)  5308 Paul Dumbrell (Holden)  4899 Michael Caruso (Holden)  46210 Steven Johnson (Ford)  455(Next race, April 16-18, Hamilton, NZ)FORMULA ONE(After Melbourne, round 2/19)1 Fernando Alonso (Spain)  372 Felipe Massa (Brazil)  333 Jenson Button (UK)  314 Lewis Hamilton (UK)  235 Nico Rosberg (Germany)  206 Robert Kubica (???)  187 Sebastian Vettel (Germany)  128 Michael Schumacher (Germany)  99 Tonio Liuzzi (Italy)  810 Mark Webber (Aust)  6(Next race: April 4, Malaysia)NASCAR SPRINT CUP(After race 6 of 36)1 Jimmie Johnson (Chev)  8982 Greg Biffle (Ford)  8843 Matt Kenseth (Ford)  8824 Kevin Harvick (Chev)  8375 Jeff Burton (Chev)  7856 Kurt Bursch (Dodge)  7767 Jeff Gordon (Chev)  7738 Tony Stewart (Chev)  7709 Clint Boyer (Chev)  74710 Dale Earnhardt (Chev)  73929 Marcos Ambrose (Toyota)  543(Next race: April 10, Phoneix)WORLD RALLY(After Mexico, round 2/13)1 S#aacebastien Loeb (Fra) Citro#adien  432 Mikko Hirvonen (Fin) Focus  373 Jari-Matti Latvala (Fin) Focus  254 S#aacebastien Ogier (Fra) Citro#adien  255 Petter Solberg (Nor) Citro#adien  206 Henning Solberg (Nor) Focus  167 Daniel Sordo (Spn) Citro#adien  128 Matthew Wilson (UK) Focus  68 Frederico Villagra (Arg) Focus  610 Mads Ostberg (Nor) Impreza  4(Next rally: April 4, Jordon)WORLD SUPERBIKES(after Portugal, round 2/13)1 Leon Haslam (UK)  852 Max Biaggi (Italy)  693 Carlos Checa (Spain)  604 Michel Fabrizio (Italy)  465 Nori Haga (Japan)  436 Jonathan Rea (UK)  397 Sylvain Guintoli (France)  338 Leon Camier (UK)  329 Troy Corser  (Aus)  2910 James Toseland (UK))  25(Next race, April 11, Valencia)Australian MX(After Horsham, round 1/8)1 PJ Larsen (KTM)  602 Ryan Marmont (KTM)  562 Kirk Gibbs (Yamaha)  564 Cody Mackie (Kawasaki)  555 Michael Phillips (Honda)  436 Luke George (Kawasaki)  407 Daryl King (Yamaha)  388 Luke Styke (Yamaha)  379 Kade Mosig (Suzuki)  3510 Brendan Harrison (Yamaha)  34(Next race, April 18, Canberra)

But it will be more than enough for passengers on the world's first Ferrari rollercoaster, which opens in Abu Dhabi towards the end of the year. And there is also a chance for overtaking...The unique GT Rollercoaster is the centrepiece of Ferrari World, which is built alongside Yas Island's $1 billion Formula One racetrack. It's a two-kilometre course which sets two cars on a side-by-side run with a competition between each pair of Ferrari-shaped coaster cars. But it's not the finish at Ferrari world, which has plans for another rollercoaster - this one the world's fastest, with a top speed of more than 200km/h and cornering forces to approach an F1 racer. Ferrari World says the G-force experience will take passengers up through the roof of the building on a 62-metre high-speed climb.There will also be racing simulators similar to the ones used by the Ferrari grand prix team, a 'flume' ride through the heart of a Ferrari engine and a driving school for juniors. The theme park is a world first for Ferrari, which has opened branded stories around the world - including one planned for Sydney's international airport later this year. The roof of the Abu Dhabi experience covers more than 200,000 square metres and the designers say it is the largest theme park in the world. It will eventually have more than 20 individual attractions, all linked to some part of the Ferrari motoring world.

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.

The Toyota Prius is up against the Volkswagen Polo and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class in final voting for the world's most prestigious car prize. The three finalists are named today at the Geneva Motor Show in the second-last stage of WCOTY voting.The winner will be announced in New York on April 1.The WCOTY contest is decided by 59 jurors from 25 countries through two secret ballots. Apart from the main prize, there are awards for performance cars, green cars, and automotive design.The three final contenders for the 2010 World Performance Car award are the Audi R8 V10, Ferrari California and Porsche 911 GT3.The three finalists for the World Green Car award are the Honda Insight, Toyota Prius and the Volkswagen BlueMotion (Golf, Passat, Polo).

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."  

But don't get too excited, because it's leaving again on the weekend.  A single left-hand drive 458, in signature Ferrari red, was airfreighted Down Under this week to tickle interest in Australia and celebrate the opening of a new Ferrari-Maserati headquarters in Sydney. "It's a customer car. It's only here for four days," says Neville Crichton, head of Ateco – the importer for Ferrari and Maserati.  The 458 is accompanied by the global head of Ferrari, Amedeo Felisa, who talks enthusiastically about the car. "The 458 helps you understand how we want to position the cars. We have the complete picture of what we see for our lineup of cars," Felisa says before ripping the covers off the car at Ferrari HQ in Sydney. But the most important thing of all –  the price –  is still a secret.  It's likely to be in the $580,000 range and there is already an 18-month waiting list in Australia, but Felisa is deliberately vague to keep people guessing.  "The car will be in sales in Australia a few months from now," he says. The facts and figures for the 458 are well known - 420kW, 540Nm, 0-100 in 3.4 seconds - but he is keen to explain the specific output of the new-generation V8 motor. "The other numbers are not important. It is 27 horsepower/litre, the best on the market. And 120 Newton-metres per litre. You never find engines that, in the same moment, have the same specific power and torque." He says the design of the 458 is totally new, with a simple brief.  "Nothing has to recall the old car. And the style comes down to the technology." The first 85 458s were delivered to customers in Europe before Christmas and one of those is Fernando Alonso, who has bought - two Ferraris for his garage - with his own money (although Felisa will not reveal the price he got).  "The first time he came we sold a California. Then we sold a 458," he laughs.

The price of a Rolls-Royce has tumbled by $50,000, a Ferrari V12 is now $27,000 cheaper and $20,000 has been taken off the price of a top-spec Aston Martin. An Audi A3 can now be bought for under $35,000 while a Porsche Boxster costs less than when it first went on sale more than a decade ago, at $105,000.The tariff cut applied this month, which reduces the impost on imported cars to 5 per cent, came into effect as the government's tax incentive scheme for business vehicle buyers was wound up. The tax break boosted vehicle demand by 9 per cent last year, according to estimates by Toyota.Luxury brands have been quick to reduce prices instead of adding equipment to cars, as they have done in the past when tariffs have fallen."We made the decision to pass on the saving in full -- it was the right thing to do," Bentley spokesman Ian Churchill said.Sales of the elite British brand slumped more than 60 per cent last year as premium makers felt the downturn more than most.

The manual gearbox - once seen to be the only gearbox for anything with sporting prowess - has become something more suited to old-school Ferrari cars as order sheets for traditional manuals have remained almost blank. Ferrari's new 458 is now a two-pedal-only proposition, with the famous marque opting out of a traditional manual gearbox because of minimal demand. Vittorio Dini, the engineer in charge of GT car engine development, says demand was miniscule for the manual gearbox in the 430 and the California, which prompted the 458 to be a double-clutch automated manual gearbox only. "There was no manual considered, it was always going to be a DCT gearbox, the manual comparison is just a simulation," he says. Dini says the speed of the gearshift in the 458 is almost instant, with the double-clutch drivetrain offering un-interrupted acceleration. "The engine is synchronised to the gearbox, this brings the engine down quickly, you use the kinetic energy of the engine to give a little extra acceleration, so instead of reducing acceleration you maintain it," he says. Dini says the manual gearbox requests didn't warrant the development and he is not saddened by the passing of the traditional manual transmission, although he understands why some people are. "It is, yes, we think so - but the requests for manual is very low, on the 430 was less than five per cent, California is worse because we developed a manual but we have almost no orders. "The performance difference is big - I understand the tradition of having the gate. "Me personally, I am not sad, because I am technically driven because I am an engineer, maybe some people in Ferrari who are more driven by history maybe, yes," he says. Ferrari Australia spokesman Edward Rowe says the Australian uptake of manual transmissions has been similarly low on 430 and California models. "We're not offering manual on California yet anyway, but order rates on manual transmissions has effectively slowed down to nothing. "The vast majority of 430s are the F1 automated manuals, not since the 360 has there been a statistically-significant number of manuals sold," he says.  

Since cars all deliver on the same basic promise of personal mobility, and many vehicles do it with incredible value and panache, good design can often make the difference between buying and losing.Ian Callum knows it and, after more than four decades of top-class design work on everything from HSV Holdens to Volvos, Aston Martins and now Jaguars, he is the right man to be talking. "This is a time of car design. It's not just styling any more. You really have to understand design, and the elements that make up a good design," Callum says. "We're also seeing a lot of change in the automotive world. The make-up of cars is changing. Designers are going to have an incredible influence."Callum has revolutionised Jaguar design over the past 10 years and just visited Australia to showcase his all-new XJ flagship, which steps right away from anything which has previously worn the brand's leaper mascot. "I didn't want to be a slave to heritage," he says simply.Callum believes good design is simple but incredibly difficult, elegant and timeless, but also challenging and filled with tiny little details. He is rare among designers because he backs his promises with commitment and talent, and is also happy to give an opinion.So, then, how does he judge the work from some of his rivals? Surprisingly, Callum is happy to go on the record with a simple tick-or-cross verdict on the latest designs in showrooms.Here are his ratings: Aston Martin Rapide - tickAudi A5 - tickBMW GT - two crossesBMW X6 - crossFerrari F458 Italia - tickHSV EII Commodore - tickLexus LFA - tickMercedes E-Class - crossMercedes SLS Gullwing - crossNissan GT-R - crossPorsche Panamera - crossRolls-Royce Ghost - tickToyota Prius - tickVolkswagen Golf - tick