Ken Okuyama stuns with Kode57

The man who led the creative team at Pininfarina when it designed the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorino appears to have improved on the Prancing Horse original.

Ken Okuyama, who worked for GM, Porsche and Honda before overseeing designs for the Ferrari Enzo and Maserati Quattroporte at Pininfarina, has unveiled a new Ferrari-based speedster.

Dubbed the Kode57, the Kode57 is believed to be based on the Ferrari 599 and follows the street-legal Kode9 clubman racer revealed at the 2013 Tokyo motor show.

It was styled at the Japanese designer's Tokyo studio and hand-built at his factory in Yamagata, and shares the same wheelbase and engine specifications as the 599.

Riding on a 2750mm wheelbase and measuring 4650mm long, 2080mm wide and 1175mm tall, it's just 15mm shorter but 118mm wider and 161mm lower than the 599.

Unique features include floating front quarter guards, rear -hinged wing doors, a low-slung wrap-around windscreen, a central instrument pod and a red ultra-suede leather-lined interior.

Kerb weight of the rear-wheel drive roadster is 1650kg despite the use of an aluminium spaceframe and carbon-fibre body panels

If customers aren't satisfied by the standard 456kW/608Nm 6.0-litre V12 –which drives through a six-speed sequential transmission -- they can opt for a Novitec ECU upgrade liberating 509kW and 608Nm.

Chassis upgrades extend to suspension that can be raised by 45mm to avoid parking damage, plus 21-inch front and 22-inch rear wheels shod Pirelli P Zero rubber -- 295/25 front and 335/25 rear.

Okuyama says the Kode57 will go into limited production, but is yet to announce pricing or build numbers.