Search the Community

Motoring @ AsiaOne http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/...316-128643.html 1000th Ferrari in HK It took the territory 45 years to mark the achievement - the new Ferrari is a new 612 Scaglietti 'One-to-One.' Mon, Mar 16, 2009 AsiaOne Hong Kong has took delivery of its 1000th Ferrari with a special ceremony in the Victoria Harbour. It took the territory 45 years to mark the achievement - the first Ferrari was delivered in the 1960s to a Hong Kong customer. This 1000th Ferrari is a new 612 Scaglietti 'One-to-One,' the flagship of the current Ferrari range. The red rocket was presented to the Hong Kong owner on board a Chinese junk, 'Huan,' in the Victoria Harbour. Ferrari delivered 115 cars to Hong Kong in 2008 and 1,089 cars across Asia-Pacific. In Singapore, 45 Ferraris were registered in 2008.

Ferrari has officially revealed details on its first production four wheel drive car called the FF. The new v12 model, which effectively replaces the quite awkward looking, quite unloved (or unnoticed) V12 612 Scaglietti come with an all wheel drive system which aims to attract a new sort of Ferrari customer. One that usually lives or tackles all sorts of roads and all sorts of weather I suppose 'FF' stands for Four Seats and Four Wheel Drive. It is Pininfarina designed but with inputs from Ferrari's chief designer Flavio Manzoni. It has a hatchback type design instead of a sloping rear like most of the Ferrari cars we have seen to date. This could be the closest to a station wagon a Ferrari can get but it still comes in two doors; like any true blood Ferrari should.. It supposedly weighs 1750kg and is is still a good 50kg lighter than the outgoing rear wheel drive 612 (of which it is roughly the same length and size). Ferrari seems to have kept its goals on weight loss as a means of gaining performance (and has added all wheel drive as a means of gaining performance too). The 4RM ('Route Motrici') all wheel drive system preserves the rear weight bias of recent Ferrari V12s and it is also well packaged and light in comparison to other systems of its kind. It combines electronics to its mechanical differentials and sensors to detect slip, yaw and roll. Much like a rally special, but this time you get all the gizmos in an Italian Stallion. Enginewise the FF comes with a 6.25liter V12 that comes with stop-start and smart charging functions to improve the car's eco-efficiency as well as keep all of the performance that should come with a Ferrari. All weather or not the FF's powerplant still makes 650bhp and close to 700Nm of torque. CO2 is down by 23% (470 to 360g/km) and fuel consumption is up from 13.8mpg to 18.3mpg. Top speed is 208mph and 0-100km/h is 3.7 seconds. This is a technological tour de force by Ferrari. It replaces the 612 which sorely needed replacing (as it was pretty sedate and some may say ugly or not appealing enough) with something radical yet very, very appealing to most Ferrari enthusiasts. Imagine that, a hatchback (or a breadvan, in homage to the Drogo bodied 250GTO from the 1960s) type of supercar can replace a low slung coupe-like shape. And it works.

The current Ferrari line up is a stupendous one. The newly launched 458 Italia, the California, the 599 GT/GTO and the 612 Scaglietti. The 612 what? Yes, this car is still in the Ferrari line-up but ever since its launch it has never really set hearts on fire. I suppose it is because of its styling. Some say that the 456 that is replaced was one of the nicest looking Ferrari grand tourers ever made. It is often out shined by its sexier, smaller and lighter sister models and sales of the car also tell the same story. But the Scaglietti is actually a darn good Gran Turismo. It is specifically built for those intercontinental drives. It allows the driver and passenger(s) to arrive in style and also feeling as fresh as when they left their home about a thousand kilometers away. The car actually has presence when viewed in real life. From the photos of the Novitec Rosso car above you think that it is actually something small. Well folks, it actually is as long as a W221 S-class and wider too. It is that large and is every bit an exciting Ferrari. Which is what Novitec Rosso, Dutch tuner extraordinaire of Ferraris, wants to tell us as it has recently launched its latest (and final) tuning package for the Scaglietti; which has been in production for a while now and should be replaced in the near future. Novitec Rosso has tuned up the ECU and added an exhaust system to the 5.8liter V12. This has resulted and increase in horses and torque. Brake Horse Power is increased to 565 from 530bhpand torque goes up to 609Nm from 588Nm. The car does not sport any new aerokit or styling. It is only limited to slight different tail lights. Aside from that we have the usual performance tuner upgrade; big rims and tires. The Scaglietti sports 275/30/20 tires up front and 335/25/21 rears. The rest of the suspension seems stock. But a 35bhp increase in a Ferrari long wheel base car would not exactly warrant fully upgraded shocks that would degrade the pleasant ride required in a long distance tourer. Novitec Rosso will add the usual refinements to the interior, which means customized leather fittings as requested by the customer. I do like the understated looks of the Scaglietti. Sometimes a little subtlety is a good thing, especially if its as big as a Mercedes S-class yet with only 2 doors and much lower.