LUXURYMOTORS: Supercar Survival I. Though it may seem anathema to the current market, the Ferrari 599 HGTE supercar will have guaranteed buyers in die-hard Ferrari fans, writes BEN OLIVER
NOW, YOU’D think, is not the time to launch a new version of an exotic V12 supercar, particularly when the eye-watering additional €18,000 it costs brings only a few cosmetic changes and an improvement of less than 1 per cent in lap times. But this is exactly what Ferrari is offering with its 599 HGTE. And, in the bizarre world of supercar economics, it actually makes sense. We’ll explain.
Until last year, the market for super-luxury cars costing over €150,000 was booming. Driven largely by the property market and bonuses, it had increased five-fold since the late 1990s and was worth around €6 billion and over 25,000 cars annually. Aston Martin saw the most dramatic transformation; it went from building 46 cars in 1992 to 7,400 in 2007. Bentley leapt from fewer than 1,000 sales to over 10,000 each year.
BMW completely reinvented the Rolls-Royce brand, selling 850 €400,000 Phantoms each year, spinning off coupé and convertible versions and planning the more affordable Ghost.
Lamborghini doubled in volume and Ferrari quietly dropped its promise not to compromise exclusivity by building more than 5,000 cars; in 2007 it grew to 6,500.
Then, as you might be aware, the economy took a dive. In 2008, Bentley sales slumped by nearly a quarter; Aston Martin will drop by nearly a third this year. Ferrari held steady at around 6,500 in 2008, but predicts that global sales will be about the same again in 2009, despite an additional 2,500 units of its new California, meaning its existing model range will drop by a similar figure.
Which is where the 599 HGTE comes in. Those devoted Ferrari customers less affected by the downturn would gladly pay double what they do now, but Ferrari can’t rack up the prices without looking greedy, so instead it finds new and imaginative ways for spendthrift customers to spend money. Clients have been offered the chance to buy and run an old F1 car with the Corse Clienti programme, become a factory test driver with the FXX programme, do a season’s racing in a F430 challenge, learn to drive better or go on holiday with Ferrari, choose from a range of lavishly-tooled accessories and have their vintage Ferraris restored and authenticated by the factory.
Ferrari’s personalisation scheme means the average new-car client spends an additional €18,000 per car on purely cosmetic customisation. And, although they’re intensely loyal to the brand, many customers dump their old cars as soon as something newer, faster and redder comes along. That’s why the HGTE makes sense; it will prop up sales of Ferrari’s big V12 and help the company survive the downturn. And to customers, another €18,000 for a car that drives even slightly better looks like a bargain.
So what do you get with the slightly awkwardly-named Handling Grand Turismo Evolu-zione? It’s mainly a suspension package with a few driveline and styling tweaks; Ferrari wants the 599 to feel a little sharper without compromising its GT credentials. There are new, five-spoke wheels which save a total of 5kg and are shod in slightly softer, stickier Pirellis. Ride height is down 10mm and the springs are stiffer: 17 per cent at the front, 15 per cent at the rear. The SCM magentic damping system has been reprogrammed to cut roll and pitch. There are also changes to the gloriously-named F1 Superfast paddleshift manual transmission; the shift time has been cut a little further, from 100 milliseconds to just 85. And the exhaust note has been retuned for a little more volume and aggression.
Aesthetically, there’s a choice of five colours for the brake callipers, the rear venturi is finished in black and the cavallino rampante in brushed aluminium. Inside there are carbon-backed seats finished in leather and Alcantara with the Handling GTE logo stitched across the backrest, a white rev counter and full carbon package across the dash.
But is it any better to drive? Ferrari claims an 8 per cent increase in grip and a reducation of 0.6 seconds in the 599’s lap time at Fiorano in the hands of its test drivers. Others may struggle to tell the difference. On the road, turn-in and front-end grip both seem slightly improved, but there isn’t much wrong with the way the standard 599 slices into bends.
That wide, flat hood in front and the knowledge that there’s a big V12 beneath it both tell you to expect understeer, but the 599 corners like a Lotus Elise and the HGTE package raises the threshold a little higher; you would need to be driving like a complete moron to find the limits of the HGTE’s front-end adhesion on a public road.
In Sport mode – the default setting – the 599’s ride remains unruffled despite the stiffer springs, and there’s still noticeable but progressive roll. In Race mode, roll is more tightly contained but too stiff over poor surfaces, jolting the occupants and disrupting the flow of torque to tarmac; save it for the circuit. The gearchanges are now borderline-savage and the 599s hard, metallic howl is perhaps 10 per cent angrier, without being entirely anti-social.
The standard 599s abilities are so great that its hard to approach its limits on the public road – but the difference is more noticeable on the track. You spend more time around the redline, can enjoy that new exhaust note more and make more changes with all five change-up lights lit; the novelty of – and shock at – changing gear in less than a tenth of a second never wears off.
But with stability control disengaged you can exploit the HGTE’s greater natural composure. On the track it now feels far less like a slightly out-of-place GT car, turning in impassively, cornering flatter and pushing into controlled oversteer without an awkward lurch.
But how many 599 drivers will drive their cars this way? Not many, we suspect, but that won’t stop at least 40 per cent of them (Ferrari’s figures) ticking the box and paying the money for the ultimate version of Ferrari’s best-ever GT car.
The extra orders will be significant in Ferrari’s efforts to survive the current unpleasantness. And the rest of us (the fans: clients buy cars, fans buy mugs, and Ferrari’s marketing effort makes a clear distinction between them) have our part to play, too.
Ferrari plans a merchandising offensive bordering on tacky; car sales might be down, but last year its revenue from mugs, brollies and F1-style babygros was up 28 per cent, and it continues with the official opening of the flagship Ferrari store in London’s Regent Street by F1’s Kimi Raikkonen on May 6th. Times might be tough, but with this kind of slightly cynical commercial nous, we suspect Ferrari will be safe.
Factfile Ferrari 599 HGTE
Engine: 5999cc 48V V12, 620PS/612bhp@7600rpm, 608Nm/448lb ft@5600rpm
Transmission: six-speed sequential manual
0-100km/h: 3.7 sec
Max speed: 330km/h
Consumption: 15.7mpg/17.9l/100km
CO2 emissions: 415g/km
Weight: 1,692kg
On sale: now
UK price: inc HGTE package £207,194 (HGTE package €18,000 plus local taxes in all Euro markets)
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
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