New flagship supercar boasts 950bhp from a KERS-assisted V12
There were a number of significant unveilings of new cars at today's Geneva International Auto Show from the likes of Bentley, Rolls Royce (more to come about that on Drive Cult later this week), and Porsche, but the car drawing all the attention was the new Ferrari LaFerrari. The LaFerrari is Ferrari's new flagship supercar, fitting into the slot at the top of their range that has been vacant since production of the Enzo finished in 2004.
As you would expect from Ferrari's flagship, the numbers are truly staggering. Power comes from a reworked version of the F12's 6.3 litre V12, now producing 789bhp at a heady 9,000rpm. This is backed up by what Ferrari refers to as a HY-KERS electric motor that provides a further 161bhp giving a total output of 950bhp. Surprisingly, the car is actually cleaner than the F12, producing 330g/km of CO2 although the car cannot run solely on electrical power. Transmission of all that power is to the rear wheels via a seven speed dual clutch gearbox. You can see how it all works in the video from Ferrari below.
Top speed has not been officially announced yet but the 0-62mph (100 km/h) sprint takes less than 3 seconds and 0-124mph (200 kp/h) is reached in less than 7 seconds. Perhaps the most impressive performance stat is that 0-186mph (300kp/h) takes just 15 seconds, a full two seconds quicker than the car's closest rival, the new McLaren P1. Ferrari are also expecting the LaFerrari to lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife in under seven minutes on street tyres.
Styling-wise the car is a more extreme evolution of Ferrari's current styling themes, with clear influences from the Ferrari 458 and (although Ferrari won't admit it) the one-off special Ferrari P4/5 built by Pininfarina for Jim Glickenhaus. In fact, this styling of the LaFerrari is an entirely in-house effort by Ferrari's own styling team with no involvement from the legendary carozzeria, making it the first 'road' Ferrari since the legendary 250GTO to be entirely styled in-house.
The expected price is €1,300,000 and Ferrari plan to make 499 LaFerrari's (Enzo Ferrari always said the production should be one less than the market demanded) although they claim to have orders for 700 cars.
First opinion
Despite all the impressive statistics, it is the name of the new car that has generated the most internet chatter today. At best it's an awkward moniker that literally translates as 'The Ferrari'. Ferrari have never been particularly good at coming up with iconic names for their cars and most end up being abbreviated or given a colloquial name instead (how many people call the 458 the Italia)? Questionable name aside, it's an extraordinarily impressive car on paper, besting the rival McLaren in every numerical comparison except emissions (the McLaren's ability to run on electric power alone probably being the difference here).
It's also a very good looking car, in my opinion. I've never really liked the styling of its predecessors, the Enzo and F50, but the new car manages to mix the demands of modern aerodynamics and downforce into a much more cohesive package. The price of entry seems very steep and while I always treat claims of advance orders for a new car with a pinch of salt, with examples of the Enzo selling in the $1.3-$1.4m range I don't see Ferrari having any problems selling all of the planned production.
Pictures Ferrari S.P.A.
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