Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
Ferrari says it will make a ''genuine break with the past'' when it debuts the all-aluminium 612 Scaglietti at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show.
According to Luca Dalmonte of Ferrari Cars of North America, the Italian company ''has changed the rules of the game with the 2+2 612 Scaglietti to suit the tastes and needs of a highly sophisticated clientele which now demands elegance and dynamic comfort as well as blistering performance.''
The result, says Dalmonte, is a ''genuine four-seater that is the result of an avant-garde design that guarantees the pure, thoroughbred performance demanded by Ferrarisit combined with uncompromising driver and passenger comfort.''
In this, says Dalmonte, the 612 Scaglietti ''is very much a third millennium product, offering a whole new generation of technologies compared to the 2+2 it replaces. In fact, it isn't really a 2+2 at all, but more a genuine roomy two-door four-seater that offers its occupants a comfortable, pleasant ride in any driving conditions.''
While this may make for a break with the recent past, there is a long history of the Modena-based firm building Grand Tourers.
''The Prancing Horse marque built its first 12-cylinder 2+2 in 1948 (the 166 Inter, bodied by Touring),'' explains Dalmonte, ''and then added other famous models clothed by such celebrated names as Ghia, Pinin Farina, and Vignale. These included the 212 Inter (1951), the 250 GT (1960), the 330 GT (1964), and the 365 GT (1967), which, for the very first time, boasted an automatic gearbox on some of the examples built for the American market, right up until the 456M of the 1990s.''
Dalmonte explains that the 612 was named by Luca di Montezemolo, the president of Ferrari and Maserati, in honour of Sergio Scaglietti, the Modenese stylist and coachbuilder who excelled in sculpting aluminium.
''In fact,'' says Dalmonte, ''Scaglietti was responsible for bodying some of the most beautiful Ferraris of the 1950s and 60s.''
The aluminium technology used in the space frame chassis and bodywork, which Dalmonte says ''proved such a success for the 360 Modena, results in a massive 60 percent increase in overall bodywork efficiency (weight-rigidity ratio).
''The light yet incredibly rigid aluminium construction also offers other significant benefits in terms of performance (acceleration, braking efficiency, handling, dynamics, and general drivability), comfort (it's wonderfully silent) and safety,'' Dalmonte claims. ''In fact, the 612 Scaglietti's robust structure and restraint systems guarantee maximum occupant protection in the event of a collision.''