Ferrari previews its car of the future

Ferrari used its recent 60th anniversary celebrations to provide an inkling of the philosophy it will embrace for its upcoming models and, in a nutshell, it's a 'less is more' strategy.

Confused? Don't be. The prancing horse used the occasion to reveal an Enzo-derived concept known as the FXX Millechili (Italian for 1000kg) and the car embodies the specialist carmaker's new goal of achieving efficiency through weight savings and cutting-edge technology.

But before you get too excited, we should point out that the car exhibited was fabricated primarily of cardboard and plastic.

The Millechili is more compact than the storming Enzo and its wheelbase of 2112mm compares with the latter's 2351mm. The distance from the top of the windscreen to the tip of the nose is also shorter -- 976mm versus the Enzo's 1107mm.

No performance figures have been released, but it's fair to expect a working version of the car would deliver fireworks.

In fact, the prancing horse's labcoats say that if the Enzo had weighed 1000kg, as per the Millechili (rather than its existing1365kg), its 485kW quota would have effectively been equivalent to 600kW.

The Millechili isn't just a pie-in-the-sky exercise as Ferrari has reportedly said it plans to make each of its future vehicles 300kg lighter than their predecessors.

Also on the drawing board at Maranello, according to UK's Autocar magazine, are regenerative braking, advanced turbo engines and biofuel-compatible powerplants.

"The world is changing, and Ferrari is changing too," a Ferrari spokesman told Autocar. "The aim is to lose no performance, but to make lighter, more efficient cars."

According to Autocar, Ferrari is also working with Imperial College in London on an innovative 'active aerodynamics' system that uses air pumps to push air over and under the car to streamline the airflow.

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