The Ferrari of Station Wagons

The four-seat Ferrari 612 Scaglietti is a great car, but not our favorite Ferrari. Launched in 2004, it’s getting long in the tooth, and the curvaceous body, lacking in tension, never really grew on us.

At this year’s Geneva auto show, Maranello will debut a Scaglietti successor that is not only visually exciting in a way the 612 never managed, but departs from the Ferrari gospel in two tremendous ways: It’s the first all-wheel-drive prancing horse, and it’s a two-door station wagon, or shooting brake.

Say What?!

The Pininfarina-styled four-seater folds futuristic shapes and detailing into classic front-engine proportions. The front end is dominated by a hood and headlights that are inspired by the 458 Italia, while the greenhouse sits far aft and flows into to a rear end with recessed taillights and a low tailgate. It is long (193.2 inches), wide (76.9 inches), and relatively low (54.3 inches), and to our eyes, it is absolutely stunning. The FF, says Ferrari, seats four comfortably and offers ample space for luggage.

2012 Ferrari FF

The FF moniker stands for "Ferrari Four" in reference to the fact that all four of the wheels are driven. Ferrari claims that its all-wheel-drive system, called 4RM, is 50 percent lighter than comparable systems, but provides no details on how this was achieved. (RM stands for ruote motrici, so 4RM just means “four-wheel-drive” in Italian.) Regardless, the Italians have managed to keep total weight down to 3,946 pounds, no small feat given the size and power of the car. (The last 612 Scaglietti we tested was nearly 200 pounds heavier, at 4,123.)

Fifty-seven percent of that weight is perched over the rear axle. Curiously, British manufacturer Jensen built a four-seat, all-wheel-drive supercar by the name of FF in the late Sixties. The acronym then stood for Ferguson Formula, Harry Ferguson Research being the supplier of its all-wheel drive system.

Business as Usual

The shape and drivetrain layout may be unusual, but the engine is pure Ferrari: a 6.3-liter, naturally aspirated 65-degree V-12 that produces 651 hp at a screaming 8,000 rpm and 504 lb-ft of torque at 6,000. The power is channeled through a dual-clutch transmission and performance, as you would expect, should be extraordinary. Ferrari claims that zero to 60 mph will take just 3.7 seconds—we suspect that is a highly conservative guess—and top speed will be a lofty 208 mph. Magnetorheological shocks will help the FF handle, and Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes will halt it. Fuel efficiency is rated at 15.3 mpg in the European combined cycle, which is invariably more optimistic than the EPA cycles in the U.S. So don’t expect the FF to be the green Ferrari we’ve been expecting.

2012 Ferrari FF

Ferrari history is peppered with Shooting Brake conversions. At the Turin auto show in 1968, coachbuilder Vignale unveiled the 330 Special. A few years later, Panther created a shooting brake based on the 365 GTB/4 Daytona. Swiss coachbuilder Felber got in on the fun with its 365 GTC/4 “Break,” introduced at in Geneva in 1977, and followed that a few years later with a conversion of the Ferrari 400 called Croisette. And, in the mid-’90s, Pininfarina built a few four-door station wagons based on the Ferrari 456 for the Sultan of Brunei. From the looks of it, though, the FF is getting the history of the official Ferrari shooting brake off to a spectacular start.

Source: autos.yahoo.com

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Russia: Top Europe's Auto Market by 2014

Russia intends to become the largest car market in Europe in 2014 with increased sales of economic recovery, Trade and Industry Minister Viktor Khristenko said on Wednesday.

"In mid 2013 the market will return to pre-crisis volumes, and in 2014 will be the number one market in Europe, with more than 3 million vehicles sold," Khristenko told lawmakers that the government here in the question session and answers.

He added that the ministry expects vehicle production to reach 1.3 million units in 2010, with sales expected to top 1.7 million vehicles.

Two years ago, analysts predicted that Russia will be in Europe, "the biggest car market by 2010. This was before the global financial crisis has squeezed demand, removing two years'rapid growth.

Russian lawmakers on Wednesday raised its planned spending on roads and road construction projects in 26 percent more in an effort to improve the acquisition of machinery.

New vehicles and light commercial vehicles sales grew by 55 per cent to 185,953 units in September compared with the previous year, according to the Association of European Business. Sales of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia in January-September rose 18 percent to 1.32 million units compared to the same period in 2009.

The number of foreign automakers, including Nissan and Chevrolet has plans for further improvements in their opportunities to increase production in Russia. Chevrolet is planning to launch a total of 37,000 cars this year compared with 23,000 vehicles a year earlier.

AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee forecast last month that a total of 1.8 million cars will be sold in Russia this year.

"It is clear that the Russian automotive market has rebounded in 2010 with our latest forecasts, suggesting an increase of almost 20 percent,"David Thomas, president of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, said.

"Despite falling almost 50 percent from 2008-2009, in 2009, the market for 1.5 million cars and light commercial vehicles is still a very important market ".

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India to be Small Car hub for Ford

NEW DELHI: Alan mulally, the 64-year-old messianic chief executive of Ford Motor Co, aims to realise in India the dream of his company’s legendary founder Henry Ford: opening up the highways for everybody.

The former Boeing executive, under whom Ford avoided the embarrassment of having to seek a US government bailout that rivals General Motors and Chrysler had to avail of, is a fan of India’s “frugal engineering” capabilities and plans to make the country Ford’s small car hub. In a departure from the past, Ford also plans to bring all its models into India, attempting to catch up with rivals and gain greater traction in the red-hot Indian car market .

“This is a new Ford,” Mr Mulally told ET NOW in an interview. “Our commitment is that we will bring all the vehicles that we have to the markets that we serve. The Figo is just one part of that larger vision.”

Ford, which rolled out the rickety Escort cars in 1998 in a joint venture with the Mahindras, is realising its folly of not producing right-sized and right-priced vehicles in India, a flawed strategy that saw it cede space to Asian rivals such as Hyundai and Honda. It has now launched the small car Figo to take on Maruti Suzuki’s WagonR and Swift, and Huyndai’s i-10.

Mr Mulally has been on course to deliver what he had promised for the US auto maker. He cut costs, eliminated staff and helped the company post a quarterly profit, though an annual profit still eludes him. Its shares are soaring and its sales have beaten cross-town rival General Motors in February — after more than a decade.

He achieved most of the targets because of what he calls “laser focus” on his ‘One Ford’ plan, which he announced when he took over in 2006. He pledged the Ford brand and other assets to borrow $23 billion, which he then termed as “the world’s largest home-equity loan”.

While global car makers, such as Italy’s Fiat and France’s Peugeot, are looking for alliances to improve efficiencies, Mr Mulally is selling brands, factories and cutting jobs.

“Back then we took a very important call — that we will be laser focused on the Ford Blue Oval brand worldwide,” Mr Mulally said. “It’s a brand people recognise and appreciate, and we want to grow it and be focused on it.”

That has meant saying goodbye to a cache of iconic European brands — Aston Martin, Jaguar-Land Rover and now Volvo Cars — so that the focus of all innovation and attention of the group is on the mother brand.

Like Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan, Mr Mulally is a fan of India’s frugal engineering expertise. And with the Figo, he is looking to make India Ford’s small car hub.

“(Ford will) absolutely make India its small car hub. India is a tremendous operation for us, it has tremendous capability in all elements of the automobile business, including design, and it’s already integrated with our entire global system. So India will continue to take a more important role for us worldwide,” he said.

And his larger mission is to fulfil the dream of its founder. “Henry Ford used to say, ‘We want to open up the highways for everybody’,” said Mr Mulally. “We want to do just that in India.”