Ferrari's CEO Amedeo Felisa(center), Senior Vice-President of Commercial and Marketing Enrico Galliera(left) and Greater China CEO Edwin Fenech unveil the LaFerrari at the Shanghai Auto Show. Photos Provided to China Daily

Only 499 to be produced, making it one of the brand's most advanced, exclusive models

Ferrari's new special limited-edition series LaFerrari is making its Asia-Pacific debut at the ongoing 15th Shanghai International Auto Show, which runs from April 21 to 29.

Ferrari's CEO Amedeo Felisa, Senior Vice-President of Commercial and Marketing Enrico Galliera and Greater China CEO Edwin Fenech unveiled the car at recent press conference.

"LaFerrari is the synthesis of everything at which Ferrari excels - performance, style, technological innovation and driving emotions. It embodies the incredible wealth of knowledge built up by the company both in Formula 1, and in designing and building road cars, thereby setting a whole new benchmark for the entire sector." Felisa said.

"Ferrari has grown together with Greater China over the past 20 years, and this region is the second largest market for Ferrari worldwide. Launching the LaFerrari for the Asia-Pacific region at the Shanghai International Auto Show reflects how much we value this market," he said.

The LaFerrari represents Ferrari's most ambitious project to date. It has the most extreme performance ever achieved by a Ferrari car produced for public consumption, and it features advanced, innovative technical solutions, which will, in the future, filter down to the rest of the Ferrari lineup.

Only 499 units of the model will be produced in total, which continues Ferrari's tradition of building high-performance cars for a small number of discerning clients.

The LaFerrari is equipped with dynamic controls that are integrated for the first time ever on a Ferrari road car with active aerodynamics and the HY-KERS system.

Architecture

The LaFerrari's architecture posed the first challenge for the company's team at the planning stage of the design.

The aim was to achieve ideal weight distribution - 59 percent at the rear - and a compact wheelbase despite the extra bulk of the hybrid system.

The result is that all of the mass is situated between the car's two axles and as close as possible to the floor to lower its center of gravity by 35 millimeters, thereby guaranteeing dynamic handling and compact dimensions.

Powertrain

The LaFerrari is the first car in Ferrari history to be powered by the HY-KERS system. The ICE represents the pinnacle of engine development and research, with a 6,262-cubic -centimeter V12 that punches out 800 CV, or about 588.4 kilowatts, and revs to a maximum of 9,250 revolutions per minute, a record for an engine of this displacement.

Aerodynamics

Active aerodynamics play an essential role, as they allow a complete adjustability of the car's configuration to attain LaFerrari's exceptional performance.

The engineers' aim was to deliver the highest degree of aerodynamic efficiency ever achieved with any road car - a coefficient of nearly 3 - thanks to technical solutions honed with computational fluid dynamics analysis and fine-tuned in the F1 Wind Tunnel.

Control systems

One further innovative aspect of the LaFerrari is the integration of its active aerodynamics and hybrid system with the other dynamic control systems aboard.

Proprietary Ferrari algorithms deliver optimal integration of the electric motor and V12 for instantaneous response.

Styling

The Ferrari design team led by Flavio Manzoni developed the LaFerrari's styling working in close synergy with the engineers to emphasize the exacting link between form and function. The result is an extreme, innovative design that retains close links to the brand's tradition. This is most evident in its side profile.

The Ferrari range

Aside from the new limited-series special, Ferrari also exhibited its complete range during the Shanghai Auto Show - a range which is the most wide-ranging and critically acclaimed in the brand's entire history.

These models, including California 30, 458 Italia, 458 Spider, F12berlinetta and FF, all share the same Ferrari DNA in terms of performance, driving pleasure and technology, and live up to the company's philosophy of "different Ferraris for different Ferraristi".

As the industry leader, Ferrari is committed to sustainable development, through a 360 degree approach, notably reducing average emissions of the range by 30 percent in the past five years alone, despite a consistent increase in average power output.

Ferrari's research into reducing energy consumption has not been focused merely on its cars but also extends to the various production methods employed throughout the Maranello factory where the entire manufacturing process is carried out, from the foundry to the final assembly.

Since 2010, Ferrari has cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30,000 tons and particulate matter levels by 65 percent thanks to Italy's largest trigeneration plant - which produces electricity, hot and cold water - making Ferrari entirely self-sufficient from an energy point of view.

This reduction meant that Ferrari met the Kyoto protocol objectives a full 10 years ahead of schedule and with double the reduction imposed on Europe.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/21/2013 page7)