LaFerrari was the car that ended Ferrari's decades-long partnership with Pininfarina
Its name means simply The Ferrari, and the company meant it: a V12 hybrid with 963 metric horsepower, only 499 built, each costing over a million euros. It was also the first Ferrari since 1973 designed without Pininfarina, and soon afterwards the two firms parted, leaving every later model to Ferrari's own studio.
Development began with nine design studies in 2011, cut to five that April, three from Ferrari's Centro Stile and two from Pininfarina. Two full-size concepts were built, nicknamed Manta and Tensostruttura, and the production car followed the Manta. Engineering drew on the FXX prototype and on the University of Modena's Millechili project, whose name, meaning a thousand kilos, fuelled speculation about a featherweight car. The claimed dry weight turned out to be around 1,255 kg. The coupe was unveiled at the 2013 Geneva show.
At its heart sits a 6,262 cc V12 making 800 PS at 9,000 rpm, paired with an electric HY-KERS unit adding 163 PS in short bursts. Ferrari said the combination delivered its most powerful road car ever while cutting fuel use by 40 per cent. Rory Byrne, Ferrari's Formula One technical director, designed the carbon fibre tub, and 21 onboard computers manage stability, traction, damping and active aerodynamics. Ferrari quoted 0 to 100 km/h in 2.6 seconds and a top speed above 350 km/h. Its claim of 15 seconds to 300 km/h, however, was later debunked; the verified figure is 21.99 seconds.
Variants followed. The open-top Aperta, shown at the 2016 Paris Motor Show, had all 200 initial units pre-sold by invitation. The track-only FXX-K, of which 40 were made, raised combined output to 1,050 PS and was never meant for racing; owners drive it in a client programme that feeds data back to Ferrari. An Evo aero kit later added 23 per cent more downforce.
Charity sales carried the story past the production run. A 500th coupe, built after the August 2016 earthquake in central Italy, raised US$7 million at auction for relief, and the final Aperta fetched US$10 million in 2017. Not everything went smoothly: coupes were recalled over headrests, tyre-pressure warnings, an airbag and a fuel tank fire risk.
Source: LaFerrari
