SPIED! Ferrari's 599 successor
2011-11-15 08:57
TAKING ON LAMBO: Ferrari's 599 successor, codenamed the F152, will take on Lamborghini's Aventador...even if the Italian automaker's CEO doesn't want to admit it.
After years of rumour and speculation the successor to the Ferrari 599 has been caught undergoing testing.
Don’t let the plastic garb fool you: the prototype shot by our spy photographers was dressed for sub-zero weather work.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about a replacement for the Ferrari 599 Fiorano but we can offer more details on the new sports car, codenamed F152. It will be built on an all-new chassis and borrow design elements from the Ferrari FF and the California.
The bumpers, headlights and bonnet will be modified, and a new exhaust system has its tips slightly higher than the current 599.
LAMBO FIGHTER
Fans of the Italian automaker can breathe easier knowing that the replacement 599 will not be a hybrid. Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa said the next 599 would retain its front-engine arrangement and be constructed with aluminium alloys and not carbon composites. Felisa said the engine would develop "more than 521kW, but it’s not because of the Lamborghini Aventador."
Sure it isn’t.
The new model will be powered by a 6.3-litre V12 capable of 521kW. That will make the F152 more powerful than the current 599 (462kW) and the FF (492kW).
The engine will be mated to seven-speed dual-clutch transmission with an F1-style electronic differential.
It will have its official debut at the March, 2012, Geneva auto show an reach showrooms later that year.
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