I won’t lie&#8230; writing any story on Ferrari is intimidating. Ferrari drivers don’t own a car, they find a passion. Their blood is not Springbok green – it is pure Maranello red.
They feel the spirit of Enzo Ferrari, the famed driver who founded the automaker and the Scuderia racing team, every time they slide behind the steering wheel.
Although red was the color originally assigned to all Italian Formula One (F1) cars by the International Automobile Federation, nearly half of all Ferrari’s sold today are that distinctive color.
What I admire most about the people of the Prancing Horse – an emblem which was handed down by the aristocratic family of a First World War flying ace – is that they hold their heads high despite dark times on the F1 circuits.
Just pass your eyes over these names&#8230; Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, South Africa’s Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen. They have won a record 15 drivers’ championships for the team.
Now, unless their luck has changed since writing this story, the fans are surviving on memories of the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix.
Ferrari chairman and newly appointed CEO Sergio Marchioness expected the Scuderia to start winning races some time back.
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The Ferrari boss said: “I’m very satisfied with both [Sebastian] Vettel and Raikkonen. The only thing that hasn’t worked well is luck.”
So, if the Scuderia aren’t exactly scorching the circuits, how is this reflecting on sales and profits?
Well, ironically, 2015 was their best year ever. Total sales are up 6% to 7,664 and profits up 9% to €290 million ($324 million). This year they’re gunning for 7,900 units, including supercars. Modest growth yes, but there just aren’t that many new Ferrari customers each year.
Sure, Lamborghini figures have spiraled but that’s mainly due to the modestly priced Ghibli. And remember Ferrari don’t see themselves as a car company. They are positioned as a luxury goods company. About half of Ferrari’s current assets consist of its brand value.
Hard to argue against when a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO is bought by American communications magnate Craig McCaw for $35 million! A 1957 Spider Scaglietti, which won the 1958 Cuba Grand Prix, was also snapped up at a Paris auction for $35 million.
Ferrari rings up approximately $1.5 billion in worldwide retail sales every year. The specialist shops stock clothing, watches, sunglasses, shoes, mobile phone covers… you name it. And the fans will pay top dollar for the Ferrari logo. Even a scale model of the Ferrari F14T fetches $5,400!
The brand is even more independent now after a complicated series of transactions, including an IPO and listing on the New York Stock Exchange, has established Ferrari N.V. separately to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Closer to home, South African new vehicle sales have sunk to a seven-year low with an analyst calling the figures “horrible”.
So how is the supercar segment, Ferrari in particular, weathering the storm? Well, new models always provide a solid lifeboat and the replacements for the highly successful 458 Italia have been nicely timed.
There is nothing cosmetic about the new 488 lineup. Apart from breathtaking design inside and out, we are into the new generation of engines. It’s a blueprint for all the industry leaders&#8230; smaller turbocharged engines developing more power, using less fuel and coughing out less noxious gasses.
First out of the blocks was the 488 GTB coupé. As you might know, the GTB stands for Gran Turismo Berlinetta and the sales have certainly been grand.
Today, the pride of the showroom is the turbo-fitted open-top version, the Ferrari 488 Spider. The lightweight Retractable Hard Top (or RHT) hardly dents the heart-stopping performance. You will hit the 100 km/h mark in three seconds flat and clock 325 km/h on a good day.
We didn’t quite hit those figures on the test drive, but whistling topless along the N1 “concrete highway” with the back window lowered to hear the purring 3,902cc V8 turbo is not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
This is when you take your hat off to technology. The smaller engine develops around 20% more power than the previous 4.5-liter naturally aspirated V8. As Scuderia South Africa CEO Mervyn Eagles says, the 488 Spider has been designed to set new technological benchmarks for the sector.
“Following the success of the 488 GTB both locally and internationally, the 488 Spider promises to surpass the expectations of any open-top V8 sport car.”
The technophobes will tell you about the Variable Torque Management system guaranteeing progressive delivery in the higher gears. It is, very simply, smoother than silk – the very antithesis of the exhilarating but neck wrenching Alfa Romeo 4C. It is all translated through the remarkable 7-speed F1 dual-clutch transmission.
The interior is a perfect blend of functionality and understated style from the Blu Corsa livery, apparently to meld with the overhead sky, to the concise instrument panel and multi-media positioned on two wings straddling the main display. I can’t verify the improvements, but a former 458 owner tells me the controls and multi-media options have been incredibly simplified.
Then we come to that crucial element of supercars that will always be hotly debated – sound. And I’m not talking about the 12-speaker JBL professional sound system. This is where Ferrari get rather esoteric.
“In line with Ferrari tradition and drawing on the harmonics typical of Prancing Horse cars with this kind of architecture, this eight-cylinder has its own absolutely distinctive soundtrack, thanks to exhaust headers with longer, equal-length piping and the flat-plane crankshaft.”
“The sound was crafted to be seductive but never invasive when the top is dropped,” the brochure oozes.
Distinctive it may be, but possibly missing the rumbling roar of the normally aspirated engine.
Which raises the question – is the 488 Spider too perfect? It is ultra fluid and easier to drive with special dampers for comfort and a “Side Slip Angle Control system” to help non-professional drivers to reach the limit.
But will petrolheads find that it has lost some of the raw appeal of the Ferrari marque, despite the blistering performance?
Possibly. Yet Ferrari is not alone. The trend is to offer a machine that is as content to poodle to the corner café as it is to take on all comers on the racetrack. Although some of the throbbing adrenalin may have faded, the era of gearsticks and oil spills is over.
The Ferrari 488 Spider is the supercar you want to make it. All you need is a spare $407,000… and a good contact to get on the waiting list.

Can A Ferrari Be Too Perfect?

Rihanna is a hit machine churning out more number one songs in the charts than any other artist. Sometimes I feel that the world’s manufacturers churn out motor vehicles sticking to a formula and are too scared to rock the chassis.
Rihanna’s secret is that she and her producers know how to reinvent her vocal and, of course, physical attributes on a regular basis.
Recent proof was her rendition of Four Five Seconds along with 72-year-old Paul McCartney wearing no make-up.  Rihanna that is – I think Paul had been touched up a tad.
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I am inspired by two brands that have taken that leap from mahogany road, overstuffed seats and polished hubcaps to leading the way in design and performance without sacrificing their iconic image.
Not that long ago, when I was rather disappointed that a certain manufacturer didn’t seem to be embracing the modern era, I was curtly reprimanded. “Our customers don’t like to lose the identity of previous models.”
Really? Is that emanating from solid market research or a bunch of dinosaur designers not willing to stray from the well beaten path of history?
But there are some brave creative souls who are proving that even dramatic design changes do not have to harm brand identity in any way – and are being rewarded at the dealerships.
A decade or so ago, Jaguar and Mercedes Benz were the flagships of the successful executive – a bold presence, but overly solid, conservative, regal and the antipathy of a performance car.
There had been the major sporting exceptions of course, the stunning E-Type Jag, the revolutionary Merc 300SL Gullwing in the fifties… but they did little to change the ‘senior citizens only’ image of the badge.
Fast forward to March this year. A standard Jaguar F-Type R V8 (limiter off) smashes the South African land speed record on the Upington Airport runway. The timekeepers settle for a split of 294.68km/h although the supercar reaches over 300 on one of the runs. And the 13-year-old boast of the Porsche 911 GT2 is a distant echo because nothing on earth has the auditory snarl and crackle of the top of the range F-Type.
While Rihanna sings about Four Five Seconds, the F-Type blurs to 120km/h in just four seconds and with the Dynamic Mode switch flipped back it is a ride that stirs the adrenal glands like very few mechanical steeds can.
I did say standard – but there is very little about this Jag that is standard as it has transmogrified, along with sister company Land Rover, from British aristocracy to adopted Indian parents Tata Motors.
It is, in my (and my wife’s!) not always humble opinion, one of the best looking sports cars on international shopping lists and has managed to pull off that most difficult of design challenges – jaw dropping looks that retain all the elements of class and style.
And the muscular and raunchy front end is matched by a menacing rear with four trumpeting chrome-embellished exhausts that show that this car means business. But unlike the Alfa 4-C which is never happy poodling along suburban lanes, the F-Type doesn’t show withdrawal symptoms when idling to the corner shop for a pint of milk.
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And while mahogany has long given way to carbon fiber and burnished metal, the interior is neither flashy nor contrived. A symphony of red and black leather delicately stitched throughout, an electronically adjustable flat bottomed steering wheel that seems built for your sweaty palms and controls that don’t need an MBA course to understand. The infotainment touch screen is relatively basic but superbly user friendly.
It is no wonder that the F-Type, which made its grand entrance as a convertible, has helped to keep Jaguar sales stable despite the economic downturn and collapse of car sales
in Europe.
In South Africa, you can step in to a F-Type Coupe for less than $80,000 but the beast, the supercharged 5.0 liter V8, is going to set you back around $130,000.
It’s not just Jaguar who has been pushing the boundaries in the 21st century. Mercedes Benz has disposed of stuffy design and average performance, to the extent that AMG, once the rebels who souped up the basic Benz, have been fully incorporated into the brand since 2005.
The latest AMG offering is set to accelerate pulse rates on the highways and racetracks of Africa. It is the metamorphosis of the 2015 World Car of the Year into a BlitzBenz which must be about the best performance per dollar that you can get.
While the C63 AMG it is far too classy to be called a wolf in sheep’s clothing, it is a four-second sprinter that will compete with most of the supercars selling at multiples of the price. And the S variant is even a shade quicker!
Despite the overwhelming accolades, some found the look of the new C-class to be more mini-executive than sporting, but it lends itself gloriously to the traditionally aggressive AMG styling. And at a smidgeon over $80,000 it is a package that is going to be very hard to beat.
One of the most surprising developments in the second generation of Merc’s most popular AMG is under the bonnet. The truth is that the ‘63’ is a bit of a misnomer.
The 6.2-liter engine has disappeared and in a Houdini-like maneuver been replaced by a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8.
If, like me, you are something of a technophobe, the simple end result is improved performance, torque and fuel efficiency. These fellows seem to have mastered the technique of downsizing far better than a lot of European governments!
Mercedes Benz South Africa were brave enough to let the local writers put the C63 AMG through its paces at Zwartkops Raceway where they have shown enough confidence in the track to build a world class driver training academy run by the ebullient and skillful Clint Weston and his team.
With racing techniques being analyzed on two in-car cameras by Adrian Burford and his bewildering computer system, and laps being timed to the split second, it was white knuckle time for the scribes.
But the latest performance Merc showed that it is as comfortable and forgiving around the track as it is on a meander through the Cradle of Humankind.
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So… am I leaving you with a V8 problem? Jaguar F-Type R or C63 AMG?
Not at all. If you are married with kids, or even own a miniature Yorkie that has to get to the park, it’s the Merc. If it’s just you and your partner, and you don’t need to pack for long holidays or both play golf, it’s the Jag.
Either way I’m jealous.

Tag: Supercar

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