Ferrari F80

Like all cars, it looks better in person. I also think it helps to have at least 1 person near by, because that helps give it a sense of scale. I was struck by just how squat and purposeful the car looks and some how the black band at the front looks less prominent in person. My immediate first reaction was: thats a proper Ferrari supercar! It will be interesting to come back in a few years time and compare our reactions.

 

Not dissimilar to the initial reaction to the SP3. I was lucky to see both cars at launch. When the SP3 was uncovered I thought this is one of the most beautiful Ferrari ever made. After the public launch I saw hundreds of comments from people who saw only the photo, saying the car was ugly. Today the vast majority have the same reaction I had then, because they have seen the car live.
My first reaction to the F80 was not as enthusiastic because I knew it had a V6, but I remember thinking this is a proper hypercar, very technical, looks very fast, the interior is exciting, big aero, it ticks all the boxes. Then came the usual posts on how hideous it is…Once again I say, wait until you see it, you wont be disappointed (ignoring the price of course!)

 

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I also think we need to get driving impressions, it strikes me as as much race car transfer as they can do in a street car in the modern era.

 

Man that thing is uuuuuuugly.

 

In your opinion.......

 

Here you go, the car is just fantastic in the sunlight, you can really see how the form works, video link below. High resolution, full walk around.

Video Link:
F80 on Vimeo

 

The more I see it, the more I like it!

 

Not the best photos, the video I posted gives you a much better feeling for the car, but here you go.

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Not sure if this is the best thread to post this but since the F80 has sparked a lot of conversation about how Ferrari is being managed I thought it might be a good place. I also don’t know if it has been posted anywhere else. It’s an interview with CEO Vigna.

I didn’t know much about him at all - except for the banal criticisms you can read regularly here - but two things struck me. He took some big, bold steps in his previous employment, creating a company called MEMS, which became a very large business. Anyone who can do that has my respect. Secondly, many of the themes he talks about as being important for running a great company are very similar to the thinking we use in our business. For example he has a list of values (I think he called them something different) that I know are very healthy for a business. And towards the end, he talks about four important dichotomies. You need to have; ambition and humility, curiosity and focus, courage and responsibility, patience and drive. This definitely resonates with me in terms of the juxtaposed elements you need to have right in a business. He connected with John Elkann over this thinking and all three key guys seem to get on very well. These are very smart people.

It’s fair game to debate whether any incumbent is the right man or woman for a particular job. And there are reasons why he might not be. But I felt confident about him and his ideas when listening to the interview. He seems to have a naturally relational and inquisitive approach and some of the things he has been able to bring to Ferrari because of his wide network have gone unnoticed - for example, Ferrari never stopped the line due to chip shortages post COVID because he was able to call in a few favours. Every manufacturer we work with was heavily affected, which in turn affected our business. Anyhow, I thought he was an interesting guy and far less ‘grey’ than you would be led to believe if you only read fchat.

 

_autodesignmagazine
Four years seem a short time to design an immortal car, but when the pencils are those of Flavio Manzoni, Chief Design Officer of Ferrari, and his team then anything becomes possible. The exterior design was entrusted to Carlo Palazzani (Head of Exterior Design Sports Cars), while the development of the interior was conducted by Angelo Nivola (Head of Interior Design Sports Cars). The Ferrari F80 expresses the concept of versatility at its best: it is, at the same time, a car, a super technological product and a cult object for enthusiasts all over the world who look to Ferrari as a reference. “I believe it is one of the Ferraris that best expresses the concept of form embracing function: there is no style here, but everything functional seeks beauty”, explains Flavio Manzoni.

Read the story on Auto&Design no. 270

 

Vigna is undoubtedly the father of a child that will soon be born as the first 100% electric Ferrari. According to Vigna this new electric car will not have motors but electric engines and therefore ensures that it can deliver the same emotion as a Ferrari with an ICE. According to Vigna one of the reasons why the emotion is equivalent to that of those who use ICE, is due to the fact that the electric engines have their own sound signature.
Although Vigna is fully convinced of the success of this new 100% electric model, there is already data that points in the opposite direction, at least among the brand's regular customers. According to what I learned, Ferrari's marketing department has asked dealers to consult with their customers about the receptivity of such new model. It appears that there are very few regular customers interested in purchasing a 100% electric Ferrari. However, let us not be mistaken as this will certainly not be an impediment to Ferrari being able to ship all the electric cars it produces. Most likely it will be with a new clientele, perhaps those who fawn over the Rimac Nevera and the owl Aspark and for whom this Ferrari will be a real bargain.
Therefore, even if the Vigna's electric Ferrari turns out to be a total failure among the brand's regular customers, it will always be a great commercial success among those who have long loathed the roar of a Ferrari.

 

I’m not sure it would be a success if all its current customers wouldn’t buy one. Who buys a Nevera? Hardly anybody. I think it’s a difficult sell for them and their notion to continue to supply what customers demand - ICE, hybrid or EV - is the right one.

Thinking forward 10 years, imagining there is a ban on ICE cars (perhaps unlikely but at the moment it is official policy and policy-makers don’t see ICE the same way as Ferrari customers do - “oh you poor Ferrari customer, can’t buy a petrol Ferrari, you have to buy one powered by electricity like the rest of us use? Poor love…”). Would I think about a Ferrari EV? We would still, hopefully, have a number of ‘older’ petrol cars in the garage and that would make things a lot easier. But would I consider a Ferrari EV if I wanted a new sports car and couldn’t buy anything else ICE? I would consider it, yes. Not sure I would go for it unless it had 500 miles of range, looked and handled great and was indeed a product that was interesting. I don’t see any EVs like that currently but who’s to say it won’t be possible in 10 years? And the only way it will be possible and interesting in 10 years is by thinking about it now. If an ICE ban holds and there are no Ferrari customers who consider an EV, Ferrari is no more. So it’s easy to sit around and say “EV? I’ll never buy one.” But times can change. If everything stays as now, I don’t think they have a chance of selling a commercially viable EV. But will everything stay as now?

 

The initiative to end the sale of cars with ICE from 2035 is probably the biggest shot in the foot that the EU has given in its entire existence. A draconian, fundamentalist and unrealistic measure, which if not revoked will end the European automobile industry as we know it. I am one of those who believe that realism and common sense will necessarily prevail before millions of car industry workers are thrown into unemployment across Europe. That's why I believe the 2035 date will be revoked for an unlimited period of time and as far as I know this is the intention of the largest parliamentary group elected recently for the European Parliament. Should that happen as I wish, that will be the end of a green and undemocratic utopia which tried to force an entire continent to travel by electric car.

 

You meant bicycles.

Marcel Massini

 

Totalitarian utopias always have an ultimate goal. This one's intention is probably making us all cyclists and therefore healthier beings.

 

Around Covid (2020/2021?), Klaus Schwab, the German organizer of the WEF World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, talked about "The Great Reset".

Marcel Massini

 

We definitely agree on that! I read an article in TG about Paddy Lowe, the ex-Williams and Mercedes F1 engineer. He has set up a company to research and produce e-fuels. It’s a fascinating read and coincidentally, the timescale he gives for the cost of e-fuels matching oil-derived is 10 years…

 

https://apple.news/AMX6emI1WQqS5qWb66yxWYQ

 

Link doesn't work for me.
Geo-Blocking?

Marcel Massini

 

This link is rather "Hey I'm Apple News, please insert coin" than geo blocking.
Head line is something like "Are E-Fuels About To Kill Electric Cars? Miracle petrol replacement gathers pace - BBC Top Gear Magazine"

 

I’ve screenshotted the key elements for you…
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Rimac cannot give their cars away, nor can Pininfarina (electric sports car) or Rolls Royce with the Spector. High end electric cars do not sell. And the ones that did, have ZERO resale value.

 

This is one of the recent news, end of 2024, concerning the revoking of 2035 ICE ban. My impression is that this EU parliament majority is just waiting for February German election to take place and afterwards they'll put Ursula Von Der Leyen against the wall.


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They should put her in a garbage can!