Missed out on a LaFerrari? Ferrari is giving you one last chance to grab one
WHEN most people are weighing up the options available to them in the new car market, price, performance and availability all factor fairly high up the list of important criteria, but when it comes to celebrated and passionate brands it seems all that goes out of the window.
If you had your eye on a model but the sales person failed to furnish you with basic information like the waiting period, how fast it will go or even its name, there is a good chance you would spin like a top and hightail it out of the showroom, but what if the model in question was a convertible version of the LaFerrari?
Ferrari has made an extraordinary car even more spectacular by taking a piece of it away.
Well it appears people are prepared to make a significant exception when it comes to one of the world’s most desirable models by one of the world’s most desirable brands, because the car you see here has already sold out before it has even made a public debut.
Ferrari is not saying what the topless version of the LaFerrari will be called, but is it too obvious to guess it will apply either the same Spider or Aperta moniker that it has christened so many of its previous open-top offerings with?
The Prancing Horse brand is also keeping schtum about how many of the breezier brutes will be built, but it is highly likely to be fewer than the 599 examples that it offered of the coupe version.
The extra stiffening necessary to maintain the poise and agility of a sportscar when its roof has been removed typically adds a few kilos here and there with an impact of performance, but, here too, Ferrari is remaining tight-lipped.
Exact figures will have to wait, but in the meantime, Ferrari says the roofless version will crack 100km from standstill in less than 3.0 seconds and will double that in under 7.0s, which is in line with its cosier sibling.
The car maker is yet to reveal how the car looks from behind or with its roof on.
Similar performance figures are due to an unchanged powertrain, and both coupe and convertible versions are powered by a mighty mid-mounted 590kW/700Nm 6.3-litre V12, but, as if that wasn’t enough, Ferrari added an electric motor for a total of 708Kw and 900Nm. That’s some serious wind in the hair.
By our reckoning, that puts the cabrio LaFerrari in line to become one of the fastest convertibles the world has ever seen, and right up there with the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse and Lamborghini Centenario Roadster.
Price? Well you can expect the more desirable and possibly rarer version to be upwards of the virtually conservative-by-comparison coupe, which was on offer for approximately $US1 million ($A1.3m).
And even if you could afford the ticket price of the convertible, you couldn’t just waltz into a dealership and slap down a leaden cheque, because, like the tin-topped version (actually carbon-fibre), you had to be invited to buy one. Gee, thanks for the offer to give you $1.3m Ferrari.
But perhaps even more absurd than the invitation-to-purchase arrangement is the story of one well-heeled customer who is suing Ferrari because he wasn’t on the exclusive list.
United States publication Autoweek acquired documents that suggest avid Ferrari fan and collector Preston Henn is attempting to take the car-maker to the cleaners because, wait for it, his reputation as an aficionado has been damaged. Puh-lease.
Don’t get too excited. Ferrari says its convertible LaFerrari “order book is closed” and it doesn’t appear any were sold to Australian customers.
Mr Henn’s garage inventory reads like a Ferrari museum, but it seems that owning an F40, F50, Enzo, ‘standard’ LaFerrari coupe and the almost priceless 275 GTB isn’t enough, with the entrepreneur locked out of the party.
No doubt those lucky enough to have been approached by Ferrari know a little more about the exclusive model then us mere mortals, but all will be revealed at the Paris motor show in September, where the car will break cover.
Until then just three images are all we have to go on, but they reveal the car’s unique red pinstriped and black paintwork, which carries through to the interior. The rearward view is through an arrow-slit like window, but who needs to know what is going on behind in one of the world’s fastest cars?
Ferrari says it has made “significant and extensive” changes to the LaFerrari’s chassis to make sure it has the same torsional rigidity and stiffness as its coupe sibling, while aerodynamics have also been improved to ensure the same drag coefficient.
The paint job is akin to the Redback spider’s cautionary markings on its abdomen that warn would be threats to stay away, but it is also reminiscent of some other iconic cars too. Bentley’s Australia-only Continental GT Back Speed, the A-Team van and Batman’s first car all adopted similar outfits.
Ferrari is not the first car-maker to try out a striking red pinstriped theme. Barris Kustoms beat them to it in 1966 for the famous Lincoln Futura-based Batmobile.
Beyond its decorative chassis mods, the car is identical to its hard-topped sibling, except for the carbon-fibre lift out panel that allows owners one of the most exhilarating motoring experiences this side of, well, a LaFerrari coupe.
If you simply must have the colour scheme, you might just grab an example of the exclusive Bentley Continental Black Speed that was created especially for Australia.
The iconic car-maker says the LaFerrari is “aimed at clients and collectors who refuse to compromise on the joy of al fresco driving even when at the wheel of a supercar” but what price can Ferrari put on the Spider and just how many are in the pipeline?
