A botched lane change led to a spectacular traffic pileup in Japan over the weekend that left a highway strewn with the smashed wreckage of eight Ferraris, a Lamborghini and three Mercedes sports cars.
The crash drew international attention not only for its stunning price — the vehicles collectively cost more than $1 million — but also for the rare glimpse of Japan’s superrich, who tend to avoid ostentatious public displays of wealth. Local police officials were quoted as saying that they had never seen so many expensive cars in one place, much less involved in a single accident.

News reports gave no names and few details about the cars’ drivers, beyond quoting police officials as saying their ages ranged from 37 to 60. But they clearly form a select group in Japan, where fewer than 500 Ferraris were sold last year.

The cars appeared to be part of an outing of luxury automobile enthusiasts, traveling north together from the island of Kyushu to a festival in the city of Hiroshima, on the southern end of the main island of Honshu. As the convoy sped through rain in the western prefecture of Yamaguchi, one of the Ferrari drivers, trying to change lanes, struck the median and spun out of control. Evasive maneuvers by other cars, which also included two Toyotas, sent them smashing into each other.

According to The Associated Press, 10 of the people involved in the wreck received treatment for minor injuries.

News reports quoted eyewitnesses as saying that at the time of the accident, the procession appeared to be traveling at 85 to 100 miles per hour, well over the speed limit of 60.

Bloomberg News quoted a traffic official, Mitsuyoshi Isejima, as saying that the driver suspected of causing the pileup, a 60-year-old self-employed man, could face up to three months in prison or a fine of 100,000 yen, about $1,300.

The police closed the highway for six hours as they cleared away the ruined vehicles. Television footage showed several red Ferraris with bumpers or engine hoods torn off, bodies crumpled. One had plowed nose-first into a guardrail.

Mr. Isejima, for one, had little sympathy.

“It was a gathering of narcissists,” Bloomberg quoted him as saying.

I bet the guy who started this accident feels like an idiot and his insurance will go through the roof.
Do you think any company will insure him after this?
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Source: nytimes.com

Of all the rivalries within the land of the exotic sports car, perhaps none is as fierce as Ferrari versus Lamborghini. The Underground Racing garage in North Carolina took two giants of gearhead-dom, a Ferrari 458 Italia with a “bolt on” twin-turbo engine and a Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, and put them in the ultimate head-to-head highway race.

The two cars make for an interesting match-up because the Aventador boasts a 700 horsepower engine, and the Stage One bolt-on twin-turbocharging system on the  Ferrari 458 Italia boosts 700 horsepower as well. Naturally, a race was in order.

Now, we’ll go on record right away and say we’re shocked that the team decided to do an acceleration race on a public highway, but nevertheless, it’s clear that the addition of two turbochargers have indeed helped the Ferrari’s performance. Was it enough to beat the Aventador? Follow the jump to find out.

Who did you want to win the race? The Ferrari or the Lamborghini?
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Source: 1340thefan.com and autoblog.com

Anything you can do, I can do better. It might as well be the battle cry sung along the autostrada between Maranello and Sant’Agata Bolognese. Because Ferrari and Lamborghini have been at each other’s throats like the Sforzas and the Medicis for decades. So if you thought the notion of Lamborghini charging €2 million for a track-bound production version of the Sesto Elemento sounded crazy, look no further than their cross-town rivals for the precedent.

Here’s a rare Ferrari 599XX – and a sinister one at that, decked out all in black – up for sale in France. It’s one of only 30 examples made for the company’s exclusive client test driver program and packs a screaming 720-horsepower 6.0-liter V12 with all the latest wind-cheating, stop-watch trouncing technology the company’s considerable army of engineers has come up with. It’s not every day that one of these goes up for sale. In fact, this is the first one we’ve seen.

So what’s the asking price? €1,315,600 – used. (That’s about $1.9 million at current exchange rates.) You can bet it was driven hard, too. What’s more, someone will most likely snap it up in due course. And if someone can spend €1.3 million on a used Ferrari track car that’s based on an existing production model, suddenly it doesn’t seem so far-fetched to imagine Lamborghini finding 20 buyers willing to shell out €2 million on a completely new one.

Head on over to JamesList for the full listing. We’ve got the regrettably low-res images of this particular example compiled for your viewing pleasure in this post.

What do you think about the black Ferrari 599XX on sale on JamesList?

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Source: autoblog.com

Ferrari has introduced a handful of models specific to the Chinese market in the past few years, and that attention appears to be paying off as the Asian nation is expected to become one of its most important markets. A recent report suggests the automaker now predicts an astonishing 66-percent uptick in sales in China this year alone.

It was reported China would become the most important market for Italian automaker Lamborghini, and now Ferrari CEO Luca di Montezemolo has confirmed a similar sentiment. The Maranello, Italy-based automaker experienced an enormous growth in 2010, delivering 300 cars to Chinese customers – a 44-percent improvement over the previous year. Impressive, but Ferrari believes its deliveries may top 500 units this year, 66-percent better than last year’s record.

Despite the rapid growth, the United States remains Ferrari‘s largest customer accounting for nearly 1600 sales last year – 24 percent of the automaker’s total deliveries. Next in line was the United Kingdom with 467 cars. Total 2010 sales amounted to just shy of 6600, but the automaker believes it will close in on 7000 units this year. The next goal — 8000 units — will rely heavily on emerging markets including South America.

Further expanding its presence in emerging Asian nations, later this month Ferrari will open a showroom in New Delhi followed by another in Mumbai later in the year.

What do you think about Ferrari’s prediction of an increase in Chinese sales?

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Source: rumors.automobilemag.com

While all automakers are working to reduce their products’ carbon footprint and CO2 emissions, it may surprise you to learn that Ferrari (yes, that Ferrari) is leading the charge!  The Fiat-owned company has reduced their fleet’s overall C02 emissions by 46 g/km, according to JATO Dynamics‘ yearly report on the European industry’s progress towards an (eventual) 130 g/km fleet average.

According to JATO’s figures, Ferrari’s emissions cut is equal to a whopping 12 % year-over-year, and equals approximately half the total reduction that volume car makers are expected (if not required) to implement by 2015.  It’s worth noting that JATO’s calculations take into account the sales of individual cars, so Ferrari is benefiting from the increase in sales of its California model, whose emissions average “just” 301 g/km.  Ferrari hopes its upcoming hybrid and HY-KERS-equipped models will further help reduce the overall figure.

Among “the competition”, Aston Martin – which will be aided next year by its upcoming Cygnet city car – managed a 0.6 per cent reduction, Bentley 1.9 per cent and Lamborghini 1.5 per cent.

What do you think about Ferrari lowering it’s CO2 emissions?

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Just a side note, check out the “24 Heures du Mans” at the Endurance Magazine website!

Source: gas2.org

In Moriyama, Japan- Japanese tuner Auto Veloce has created a Lamborghini-inspired body kit for the outgoing Ferrari F430. It was officially unveiled at the 2010 Special Import-Car Show, or SIS, in Japan, and it’s now available for order in both spider and berlinetta versions.

The package is part of Auto Veloce’s product line called “Super Veloce Racing,” and includes a full exterior body kit. Like a lot of the aggressive models from Lamborghini, the F430 gets a huge airdam, quarter-panel intakes and a monstrous rear wing. The kit is blacked out to make it look even more like Lamborghini’s 2010 Murcielago LP670-4 Super Veloce. New wheels and a rear bumper with a diffuser are also part of the modifications.

A similar but less aggressive package with the Lambo look is also offered for the Ferrari 360 Modena.

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Source: insideline.com

The green 599 that is on at the Geneva International Motor Show is technically a concept. The hybrid powertrain is called-somewhat amusingly-HY-KERS. The ‘HY’ stands for hybrid and ‘KERS’ refers to the Kinetic Energy Recovery System Ferrari used during the 2009 Formula One racing season and was dropped because it was deemed too expensive, troublesome and not effective enough. Ferrari says that the F1 authorities will be reviewing the role of KERS in future seasons and that it is recovering its development costs by fitting it to the road car. The KERS is used to recover the braking and decelerating energy in a state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery.

The electrical energy is converted into about 650 volts, which gives an additional 100 hp that is used to supplement the acceleration of the six-liter V12 petrol engine and also run the engine’s air conditioning and power-steering pumps.

It was reported that Chairman Luca di Montezemolo (who is also Chairman of Fiat Motors, majority owner of Ferrari) aims to apply the hybrid system displayed in the 599 HY-KERS show car to all of Ferrari’s production models.

“To see a green Ferrari is something unusual,” he admitted.

But Mr. di Montezemolo was at pains to reassure Ferrari buffs that the carmaker has not gone all tree-huggy.

“It’s not a bourgeois Ferrari,” he said in an interview.

“This is a first step of a long project,” he said, “and we want within three years-maximum four-to have a hybrid Ferrari car ready for every single product of our range. In three years, we aim to cut emissions by a minimum of 35 percent.”

Mr. di Montezemolo recalled how outraged some Ferrari aficionados were in the 1970s when the company introduced automatic gearboxes. Now virtually all new Ferraris are automatics. They are not ordinary automatics, but rather gearboxes actuated by paddles next to the steering wheel like a Formula One racer.

Mr. di Montezemolo’s point: hybrid Ferraris will also be true to the Ferrari legacy.

Emissions, in fact, have much to do with the Prancing Horse’s push for hybrid vehicles. By 2015, European automakers’ fleets will have to emit an average of 130 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer or better. The equivalent target for small-volume manufacturers like Ferrari hasn’t been announced yet. In the U.S., all cars are required to meet the minimum fuel consumption rate of 35 miles per gallon(mpg) by 2020. Currently, the most fuel efficient car produced by Ferrari, the new 458 Italia emits 307 grams of CO2 per kilometer, and delivers 11 mpg in the city and 15 mpg on highways. Ferrari engineers all agree on the fact that hybridization is the only possible answer to meet the new emission standards set both in the U.S. and Europe. Any failure to follow the set of rules would force Ferrari to pay hefty fines or even worse, stop manufacturing cars all together.

Supercar manufacturers are addressing this in different ways. Lamborghini feels it can survive by building lighter cars made with more carbon fiber and smaller engines, while Ferrari-along with Porsche-is taking the hybrid approach. The HY-KERS system shown in Geneva allows the 599 to run solely on electricity during the EU urban cycle, but during longer runs-or if the driver should stomp on the accelerator pedal-the V12 comes to life.

Ferrari says the 599 HY-KERS cuts emmissions by 35 percent-right where the company is aiming to be when 2012 comes.

Ferrari also unveiled a start/stop system for its California model. This systems goal is to save fuel by switching the engine off at road junctions and traffic lights and reducing pollution in the process.

What do you think about the Ferrari 599 HY-KERS?

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Source: telegraph.co.uk, rumors.automobilemag.com, wheels.blogs.nytimes.com, nitrobahn.com, allcarselectric.com

With the new 458 Italia ready to go, the 458 Spider on its way, and the California still fresh on the market, Ferrari is turning its attention from the V8 range to its V12 flagships. CAR sat down with the company’s CEO and managing director Amedeo Felisa, who revealed the full roll-out schedule for not one, not two, but three new V12 supercars currently under development in Maranello.

First to be replaced will be the 612 Scaglietti which has been on the market since 2004. Five years on the market may not seem like a long time, but the Scag hasn’t exactly won the hearts and minds of enthusiasts and customers. And due to this, Ferrari is apparently moving ahead with its replacement, due to hit the market by 2012.

Around the same time, we can expect to see the long-anticipated supercar to follow in the footsteps of the 288 GTO, F40, F50 and Enzo. Although Ferrari has been working on hybrid propulsion and other forms of green technology, those bits won’t be ready by the time the Enzo’s successor rolls around, so expect a more conventional V12 (or possibly twin turbo V8) to drive Maranello’s new benchmark.

So with the supercar already in the works, next up will be the replacement for the 599 GTB Fiorano but that will take a little longer. The two seater GT was just introduced a few years ago and was recently treated to a new HGTE package to keep it ahead of the competition. Though the new 458 Italia is already expected to outrun the Fiorano, and with arch-rival Lamborghini hard at work on a successor to the Murcielago, Ferrari insists it isn’t planning to replace the 599 before 2015.

What Ferrari do you like the most?

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Source: zerotohundred.com and autoblog.com