Tradition may yet reign for the next Enzo, as Autocar reports Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa said that the Enzo successor will be powered by a mid-mounted V-12 and also utilize a carbon-fiber chassis. Though previously reported that a twin-turbo V-8 might be destined for Ferrari’s next super car, it appears the Italian sports car maker will follow a formula similar to that of the last Enzo, and F50 before it.

The announcement of the next Enzo’s powerplant wasn’t the only thing recently revealed about the upcoming supercar. Speaking to Autocar at the launch of the Ferrari 458 Spider, Felisa said the Enzo successor could also make use of hybrid technology. Ferrari already announced its intention to hybridize much of its future lineup at this year’s Geneva show in March, and we’ve seen 599 hybrid prototypes undergoing testing in Germany.

Felisa also told Autocar that the lessons Ferrari learned with its Formula 1 program and the development of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) for racing applications could prove useful in production cars. Still, Felisa maintained that such a system, if employed on a road-going car, would not focus solely on performance, but efficiency as well.

The Enzo successor will sport a carbon-fiber monocoque chassis even though most of Ferraris other cars primarily use aluminum in their structure.

“The using of carbon fiber does not make sense,” Felisa told in an  interview. “If you compare what you can get with some part done in composite  [with] full aluminum, you are very close in terms of weight…but the cost difference is huge.”

In addition to the weight savings versus cost argument, Felisa also stressed the difficulty of assessing damage to a carbon-fiber chassis after a crash. Whatever technology Ferrari has in store for its next Enzo, as well as the rest of its future lineup, the automaker says it’s focused on keeping its identity intact. Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo told Autocar that an official reveal of the Enzo successor would happen by the end of 2012, but a final name has yet to be chosen.

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Source: wot.motortrend.com and rumors.automobilemag.com

Ferrari hosted a special premiere for the new FF yesterday evening in front of a worldwide audience. The event was hosted by Ferrari’s CEO Amedeo Felisa and Chairman Luca di Montezemolo, who were joined on stage by Ferrari’s SVP of Marketing Enrico Galliera, Ferrari’s F1 drivers, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, Piero Ferrari – son of the company’s founder Enzo, Ferrari’s Chief Test Driver Dario Benuzzi and the FF’s road-car development driver, Raffaele De Simone.

Enrico Galliera and Dario Benuzzi presented the main technical details, whilst Ferrari’s ever-charming Chairman, Luca di Montezemolo thanked (literally) everyone and then proceeded to put Ferrari’s drivers on the spot with questions about what they thought of the new FF (the answer inevitably was… Erm, it’s superb! Boss).

Some of the key technical details shared with us during the presentation include;

The Key Numbers which best describe the FF

• 660hp – the most powerful of any Ferrari.
• 3.7 seconds from zero to 62mph – the best in the FF’s class (although they didn’t elaborate just which cars they would include in its class).
• 2.7 kg/hp – again a best in class figure.
• 4 – namely the number of seats in the FF, which are proper adult-sized seats rather than the more typical 2+2 format.
• FF – which Amedeo Felisa described as meaning ‘Ferrari Four’, representing the number of wheels driven and the seating capacity.
• 360 g/km CO2 – which is 25% less than the FF’s predecessor (the 612 Scaglietti) and best in class.
• 800 litres – which is the maximum capacity for luggage achieved by folding the rear seats down (increasing capacity from 450L).
• 6 – the number of exclusive colours developed for the FF only – these include Rosso Maranello, Grey AbuDhabi, Grey Ferramet, Blue American, White Italy, Green Racing.

Quotes from the drivers

Felipe Massa – “It’s different from the others (models in the Ferrari range). It’s got a lot of room inside for a Father like me, it’s the perfect Ferrari where I can take my wife and my son in. It’s a spectacular car.”

Fernando Alonso – “I’m not as old as Felipe, so I want more performance from a car – and I think this car can offer high-performance car levels. We can’t forget that it has more than 600 HP, so it’s an extreme car you can use in all conditions – with snow, rain in the mountains – in the past it was difficult to use it (a super sports car) in these conditions, to me in Switzerland it’s going to be a very useful car so I will have to talk to the Chairman (Montezemolo), to the President…”

Key features unique to the FF

• Ferrari together with Michelin developed both summer and winter tyres for the FF, enabling customers to use the car all year round.
• The FF can be fitted with rear headrest TV screens, enabling rear-seat passengers to watch videos and interact with media independently of the driver and front-seat passenger.
• A screen can be switched on for the front-seat passenger which displays the revs, speed and suspension settings of the car – providing a more exciting experience for passengers.
• Ferrari’s all-carbon brakes on the FF should last the ‘lifetime’ of the car and never wear out…
• The 4 wheel-drive unit in the FF weighs 50% of other solutions on the marketplace and is an innovative component, able to distribute power infinitely to whichever wheel needs traction.

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Source: skiddmark.com

FERRARI SpA said it aims to boost sales in China to 600 units this year and hopes to drive the world’s largest auto market to become its second-largest market after the United States in the future.

The Italian sports car maker sold close to 300 cars on the Chinese mainland in 2010, up nearly 50 percent from a year earlier and marked the best result since the company started business here in 2004.

China became Ferrari’s fifth-largest market when it sold nearly 500 units in combined sales on the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“The result confirmed the positive trend within the market in recent years, and China will play a more and more important role in the Prancing Horse global success,” said Ferrari Chief Executive Officer Amedeo Felisa, who was in Shanghai for a ceremony marking Ferrari’s 999th owner on the mainland with the delivery of the Ferrari 458 Italia. The figure nine has very good meaning in Chinese. It means long-lasting, perfection, and sustainability.

“It took us four years to welcome our 500th owner and just two years to gather another 500,” said Edwin Fenech, Ferrari’s Asia-Pacific CEO. “We have confidence it will be much faster to reach the next milestone.”

Ferrari also intends to tap the large potential offered by China’s younger consumers.

“One thing that Chinese clients differ from those elsewhere is that customers in Europe and America are normally between 30 and 40 years old but many Chinese owners are less than 30,” Felisa noted.

Ferrari plans to increase the number of dealerships from 10 to 15 this year to tap growing demand on the mainland, with new dealers set to open in non-coastal cities. At present, the dealerships focus on east coast cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Qingdao and Hangzhou.

Will Ferrari sell 600 units in China in 2011?

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A Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano is displayed at an exhibition held to celebrate Ferrari's 999th car sold on the Chinese mainland at the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai.

Source: english.eastday.com

Ferrari 612 Scaglietti

Ferrari laid out its model refresh plan last month, and it is promising to Ferrari lovers. The company will continue with four lines: the California, 612 Scaglietti, 458 Italia and 599 Fiorano. The former two will be part of the GT division and the latter two will be part of an “extreme performance” car division. Each individual car’s cycle will run four years, at the end of which, a heavily-revised M or modificato model will replace the original and will include significant styling, powertrain and chassis changes. Four years later a completely new model will replace the M model. With four cars in its line, Ferrari will add an M or brand new model every single year.

If that isn’t intriguing enough, Ferrari will also launch a flagship model like the Enzo every 10 years or so and will launch variants like Spyder and Scuderia models within the cycle.

Ferrari believes that they will keep the four-model range for years to come, with the two GT models and the two high performance models. The Italian automaker intends to widen the gap between the two types in the future.

The first new model will be the 612 Scaglietti replacement, codenamed F151, which will be due out in 2011. It will be cheaper and more practical car than the current 612. The F151 will cost around the same amount as the 599 GTB, with an aluminum body and engine in the front, but it will also get more interior and cargo space.

The 599′s replacement, the F152, is due in 2012. It will be positioned farther from the F151 than the 599 is from the 612. We think that this new model will be harder and faster than the current 599 GTO. The F152 will keep its front V12 and rear transmission layout.

Even though Ferrari is working on a hybrid model, nothing has yet been planned up to 2014. At the Geneva Motor Show, Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa told Motor Trend “It’s not feasible for production yet. It would take three years to develop the components and two more years to get the suppliers ready for production. The purpose of this is to find customers.

“We are doing hybrids because if we don’t there will be no more Ferrari,” he added. “We are forced by fuel consumption and CO2 rules. We will have to do other things too-aerodynamics and lightweight-because hybrid isn’t enough. But it’s not under discussion to change the character of a Ferrari. We won’t lose performance.”

He finished by ruling out the possibility of an all-electric Ferrari, though he believes that an electric motor combined with a normal engine can result in serious fun. “Every new model needs a new sensation. It is not just about extra performance or lateral g. If you couple an electric motor with a combustion engine, you can have an extra feeling of sportiness. I cannot imagine a fully electric Ferrari.”

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Source: motorcrave.com and topspeed.com

Ferrari Logo Prancing Horse

Ferrari could put a hybrid car on the market by 2015, according to the automaker’s CEO and General Manager Amedeo Felisa. In an interview with Autocar, Felisa says that either European Union or Italian environmental regulations could force the company to put a hybrid up for sale.

Speaking to Autocar at the last Beijing Motor Show, Felisa had some rather interesting remarks on the future of his company, notably regarding the powerplants needed to meet future emissions and fuel mileage requirements. Says Felisa: “Our customers are looking for the essence of Ferrari-the emotion, the performance, the technology and so on. The way in which we fix emissions is not their problem but ours. If we are not able to fix it, only then will it become a problem for them.”

That’s rational, we’d say. But here’s the point where Felisa’s comment’s seem sure to raise some eyebrows amongst the environmental crowd: “[Hybrid will come in] 2015, if we are forced to by the [government] regulations. The issue of emissions for Ferrari is more a political one than real one. Lowering emissions of every Ferrari will not save the planet, but it will cost us a lot of money…In the next five to 10 years, hybrid technology will develop and maybe something else will come up. Maybe it’ll be hydrogen, but for our cars only hybrid is ready.”

According to Autocar’s quote from Felisa, “Hybrid means we can protect the V12,” suggesting Ferrari believes its unassisted 12-cylinder will live on. Autocar’s theory is that the next Enzo could see its V12 paired with an electric motor to keep the government watchdogs happy. Of course, this contradicts Autocar’s Ferrari piece from about ten days ago when, after speaking with Felisa, it wrote, “Felisa also hinted that the new Ferrari Enzo will be powered by a direct-injected twin-turbo V8 when it is launched in 2012.”

From this perspective you could say that hybrid drivetrains are doing something unimaginable, they are saving the possibility of having a massive V12 engine in the supercar of your dreams.

Felisa said that the only reason behind the company developing hybrids is not to compete with Porsche’s KERS or any other mainstream application but simply to find a loophole in fuel economy that would save their way of thinking up Ferraris of the future.

Currently, Ferrari is only exploring hybrid powertrains to reduce emissions within the next ten years. The company has not ruled out the eventual use of hydrogen.

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Source: autoblog.com, automotorblog.com and worldcarfans.com

Amedeo Felisa presents the Ferrari 599 GTO in a factory alongside its sibling the Ferrari 599XX where the technology has since been developed from its forefather called the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano.

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Source: ferrari.com via youtube.com

Ferrari Enzo

People are eager to see Ferrari’s replacement for its famous Enzo supercar, and more details about the car are beginning to emerge as it moves along from concept towards production. The latest information comes from Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa, who indicated that the car will in fact use a direct-injected, twin-injected turbocharged V-8.

Ferrari verified it is working on a ”special series Enzo” set to debut in 2012 at Fiat’s five-year business plan. Other details include the use of lots of carbon fiber and no hybrid powertrain. Amedeo Felisa also hinted that the car is going to use a direct-injected, twin-turbocharged V-8, the opposite of earlier reports of the possibility of a twin-turbo V-6 or twin-turbo V-12. Reports indicate the engine will produce around 700 horsepower and use the vehicle’s lower weight for mind-bending performance.

“There are no plans for a six-cylinder engine today. Ferrari will not build a six-cylinder engine until customer attitudes towards smaller engines change,” Felisa told Autocar. “The perception today is that the number of cylinders equates to the possibilities of the car. That is why we are developing hybrid technology that can be applied to our V-8 and V-10 cars. Hybrid means we can protect the V-12.”

The most interesting aspect of Felisa’s statement is the mention of V-10-powered cars–an engine not found in Ferrari’s current lineup, not even in racing. This demostrates Ferrari is planning a V-10 engine for use in a car in the near future. Given Ferrari’s current lineup and the unveiling of the 599 HY-KERS, the future V-10 engine, if used at all, is likely to power Ferrari’s next large grand tourer, the 612 Scaglietti replacement.

Additionally, Felisa confirmed that Ferrari will use carbon fiber to lower the weight of the Enzo successor. “We will only use carbon fiber on very special cars which have a very low rate of production and which are not for everyday use, such as the new Enzo,” he said.

Besides validating that Ferrari will continue to use copious amounts of carbon fiber in its supercars as it did on the Enzo and F50, this shows Ferrari won’t follow rival McLaren’s example of using carbon fiber in its “everyday” cars. McLaren uses a carbon fiber monocoque in its latest MP4-12C roadgoing car. Both BMW and Mercedes-Benz have committed to using carbon fiber extensively in the future as well.

“The fact is that nobody today has a real understanding of what happens if you damage a carbon fiber structure. After 20 or 30 years of use, who knows what state a carbon fiber structure will be in?” Felisa gave as his reason behind limiting the use of carbon fiber to Ferrari’s exotic supercars.

What do you think about the Ferrari Enzo replacement and what Amedeo Felisa has to say about it?

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Source: autocar.co.uk via rumors.automobilemag.com

2010 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti

Ferrari won’t be pressured into producing a four-door sports saloon, unlike its rivals Aston Martin and Porsche. “As Enzo Ferrari would say, we will never do four doors,” Amedeo Felisa, Ferrari’s vice general manager, recently told Autocar. “We will keep this tradition.”

Although his company has broken into some new (and unusual) territory with the likes of the 599 HY-KERS hybrid and is using fuel-saving stop-start technology on its cars-which it previously has said that it won’t ever do, Felisa points out the European Union regulates emissions and fuel economy–not the number of doors a vehicle must incorporate.

“We stand 60 years and never needed four doors,” he said. “Frankly speaking, no one is asking for a four-door Ferrari. If you want a four-door Ferrari, we have a Maserati.” He said that one of Ferrari’s strong points has been that its products are kept “in the right way.” He said further that while he can’t categorically state that four doors isn’t right for its image, it’s just not part of its heritage.

On that note, look for a few new four-doors in Maserati’s future. During Fiat’s five-year product plan rollout, it was revealed that a new Quattroporte is in the works, as is a smaller sedan, designed to compete with the BMW M5. No time frame was given for either model offering.

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Source: rumors.automobilemag.com and 4wheelsnews.com

Ferrari 599 GTO

Women in China buy four times as many Ferraris as women in North America, thanks in part to newfound prosperity and a glut of female entrepreneurship.

Of the 220 Ferrari cars sold last year in China, 44 were bought by women. That is four times greater than their Western counterparts. This represents 20% of the total sales, as compared to 5% elsewhere. In an interview with GoAuto, Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa stressed the importance of the Asia-Pacific market. “We don’t see big possibilities (to increase sales) in Europe and we don’t see big possibilities in the U.S.,” he said “But for sure we have not exploited the potential we have in Asia-Pacific as well as the Middle East and East Europe.” Felisa pointed out that the customers who buy Ferraris in China are 10 years younger on average than European customers.

He thinks that it’s because many women in China are running businesses and they can certainly afford this type of car. Felisa added that it still came as a surprise for them since they didn’t think that the car would appeal that much to women.

He also believes that it could be a reflection of the business condition in China. Because of the emerging sales in China, Ferrari was shielded from the economic difficulties in the North American and European markets that were actually dropping even before the global crisis.

Felisa also stressed that Ferrari would adapt their production to meet the needs of the Chinese market, but it would not oversupply the market with cars. Ferrari spokesman Antonio Ghini once said that “…we will produce one less car than the market demands”, and this maxim has unquestionably helped Ferrari maintain its mystique and cachet among the uber-wealthy of the world.

Ferrari sought to honor the Chinese market by deciding to launch the 599 GTO at the Beijing Motor Show. Last year, Ferrari was the only sports car maker to continue to grow in the Asia-Pacific. About 500 cars were sold last year in the Asia-Pacific. The biggest market was China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong. Over 220 cars were sold via 10 China dealerships, 150 units sold in Hong Kong and 50 cars in Taiwan.

What do you think about the Chinese market for Ferrari?

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Source: 4wheelsnews.com and autoguide.com