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California dreaming
Can a luxury folding-hardtop 2+2 really drive like a Ferrari? The Italians say the new California will prove it, and find them a whole new audience
The California is the Ferrari for the people who have no interest in being hemmed in by the old rules. They want a supercar. They want it to be practical and useable every day. They want swoopy styling that'll make them look as rich as they are. They want a snug coupe but they want a convertible too, which is why it's got a folding hardtop.
With all that - and this is what has eluded everyone so far - they want to be able to open the throttle and turn the wheel and feel it react like a Ferrari. They want it all.
"I always wanted to make different Ferraris for different Ferraristi," said company president Luca di Montezemolo when we last interviewed him. The California is a car for a new kind of Ferrari buyer, and it's an addition, not a replacement for any of the current range.
The new rich - and whatever you read about a credit crunch their numbers will continue to mushroom as new economies boom - don't like being bound by the same constraints as the old rich. When money comes suddenly, with it comes an assumption that it can buy everything. So for Ferrari to get these peoples' trade, it has to give them a car that does everything.
'People have speculated that as it's a front-engined V8 it's going to be Ferrari's base car. It isn't'
People have speculated that as it's a front-engined V8 it's going to be Ferrari's base car. It isn't. It will cost more than a 430 Spider, because it does more and it's designed for the new rich. Who are, in many cases, really very rich indeed.
As Luca di Montezemolo put it, getting pretty agitated, "Used cars are our entry cars. We are not going to do a 'new Dino'. No way. I will never do a small Ferrari. A small Ferrari means a cheap Ferrari. What does small mean? Less technology, less innovation? No no no."
If you think a folding hardtop is going to knock a big hole in Ferrari's sportiness, try these facts. The California's 0-62mph figure starts with a three, thanks to its 460bhp V8, seven-speed gearbox and even weight distribution.
It hauls itself down again with standard carbon ceramic brakes. Weight distribution is good, and the body construction is the same as the 430 Spider, so it should be light and rigid and it should handle.
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