Last week in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari
unveiled its newest hybrid supercar, the FXX K, a monster machine with
a price tag of US$3.1 million (S$4 million) made for the world's top 40
Ferrari collectors.
I must admit that when I saw the photos and the numbers for the car,
which has a 1050 cv, V12 engine, my first reaction was a casual shrug.
Here is another design exercise meant to placate the
environmentalists and the Ferrari fan boys, I thought. It is not even
street legal. It has no relevance to the real world.
I spoke too fast. Turns out the beautiful part of this whole
enterprise - and its dirty little secret - is that hybridisation does
as much for improving track performance as it does for saving petrol.
It just sounds better to say you are doing it to save the planet.
"Ferrari gets a double win here, because if you set up hybrid
technology correctly you can actually make a car have better
performance because of the instant torque hybrid provides," said Mr
Karl Brauer, the senior editor at Kelley Blue Book.
"So basically, Ferrari is able to add to the performance of its cars and make it look like it's very earth-conscious as well."
It is a common theme for luxury carmakers, actually. Build a killer
supercar that runs on electricity and petrol. Win some races with it or
set a few speed records. The fact that it is a hybrid almost becomes
besides the point.
Porsche has been testing its electric technology on the mid-engine
plug-in hybrid 918 Spyder since last year, with great results.
Last year, a 918 fitted with Porsche's optional racing package
became the first series production car - hybrid or not - to break the
seven-minute barrier on the infamous Nurburgring racetrack.
McLaren's P1, model year 2014, followed suit, offering 375
hand-chosen buyers the chance to own the twin-turbo V8
engine/lithium-ion motor.
Consider P1 the hybrid version of McLaren's own conventionally powered track star, the McLaren F1. It had the same clout.
More recently, at the Paris Motor Show in October, Lamborghini
showed off the V10 Asterion plug-in hybrid. That, actually, is probably
more of a tree-hugging hat-tip than anything else. For starters, it is
purely a concept, not even ready to race on a track.
And Lambo chief Stefan Winkelmann tellingly could not wait to stop
talking about it during the show. When we spoke then, he mentioned the
Asterion's design heritage and cool factor considerably more frequently
and fondly than he did its powertrain. Or its prospects for a viable
future.
At Ferrari, meanwhile, the FXX K provides another significant
benefit in addition to technological progress. This year has not been
the smoothest at the office. The Maranello-based brand saw its head of
23 years, Mr Luca di Montezemolo, depart under vaguely political
circumstances.
Its fourth-place finish in the Formula 1 team standings this year
would most certainly fall under what Mr di Montezemolo described in
Paris as "a tragedy".
The fact that it has produced something even more astoundingly manic
than the LaFerrari - something with the silencers removed in order to
completely unfetter that engine scream - conjures some timely critical
and popular adulation.
Of course the car has been in development for years, said Mr Jesse
Toprak, chief analyst at Cars.com. But the fortuitous timing certainly
provides a nice diversion. "It puts the focus back where it counts - on
the cars," he said.
