Ferrari 458 Italia

Ferrari, a name that inspires admiration and a thirst for extreme horsepower is apparently not doing so well down under. Since last year, the sales of the extremely luxurious and exclusive sports cars from the Italian automotive giant Ferrari have dropped by 36% in Australia. A total of just 104 cars being sold in one year. However this hasn’t upset the Ateco Group, Ferrari’s exclusive franchise in Australia that acquired the distribution rights to the awesome sports cars in 2006.

Even with the slump in the luxury car market and a badly bruised economy, the deviant Adeco Group has announced the opening of a luxurious new Ferrari dealership in Sydney. As per the owner of the Ateco Group, Neville Crichton, the luxury market had been hit pretty hard, but conditions are turning around fast and the demands for high end sports cars such as Ferrari models are increasing rapidly with consumers willing to invest in these gorgeous automobiles.

The new Ferrari dealership in Sydney is a five story building that witnessed its grand opening gala last Saturday, February 6th with more than 500 guests. The star of the gala event was the latest Ferrari model to hit Australian roads, the all new Ferrari 458 Italia, with the CEO of Ferrari, Amedeo Felisa. The rebounding of the luxury car market in Australia is further empathized by the fact that, so far more than 100 orders for the 458 Italia have already been placed and the cars with a price tag of half a million dollars ($A 500,000) will be delivered to the anxious owners by the mid of 2010.

According to Neville Crichton (CEO, The Ateco Group),

“Business is picking up and traffic in our expensive showrooms is very strong. Finance was a major problem-the banks just wouldn’t loan on expensive cars. That’s changed considerably over the past three months. Australia did not have the best year, but we increased our market share. We made a promise to Ferrari that we’d build the best network in the world and I think we’ve achieved that.”

Are there any Australians out there?

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Source: elitechoice.org

Ferrari Enzo

Down under in Australia the launch of a brand new Ferrari and Maserati dealership in Sydney, Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa has revealed some of the automaker’s future projects, confirming plans for the revival of the legendary GTO badge as well as the replacement for the Enzo supercar.

Putting the recent global financial crisis well behind it, Ferrari will be launching a number of new models in the coming years, starting off with the brand new 458 Italia. Felisa confirmed this model would be followed by a 458 Spider convertible next year but said there were no plans for a track-focused ‘Scuderia’ version just yet.

He went on to disclose that the 599 Hybrid set for next month’s 2010 Geneva International Motor show isn’t destined for production, although the limited edition 599 GTO is. Speaking with GoAuto, Felisa said early hybrid prototypes are already showing improvements in fuel economy of more than 25% but stressed that the technology is just not ready for production and likely won’t be for another five years.

“The suppliers are not ready. Everything is underdeveloped. There is a lot of work to so. It is not for tomorrow. We haven’t decided when [it will be introduced]. It will be around that period [2015], but not before five years,” Felisa explained. In the meantime, Ferrari will launch milder fuel saving technologies, such as cylinder deactivation, engine stop-start and electrically-powered auxiliary systems to take the load off the engine. The first of these systems will appear in the California next year.

As for the new GTO based on the 599, Felisa said the car “is coming” and in the process revive the legendary three letter badge last used on the 288 GTO almost a quarter century ago. Similar in theory to the 430 Scuderia and the 360 Challenge Stradale before that, the new 599 GTO is essentially a lighter and more hardcore version of the regular V-12 powered 599 GTB.

The story doesn’t end there as Felisa also confirmed the news we have all been salivating about for months-a replacement for the Enzo supercar is in development. He said it will be available in left-hand drive only and designed with all the characteristics Ferrari is famous for, which we can safely interpret as being loud, fast and bursting with Italian flair.

What do you think about the future models coming from Ferrari?

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Source: motorauthority.com