Ferrari FF catches fire in China

Article
Gallery

By Tim Beissmann | February 21st, 2012

A brand-new Ferrari FF burst into flames in China over the weekend while driving through traffic in Shanghai.

The four-seat, four-wheel-drive Italian supercar – which retails for $625,000 in Australia – was reportedly driving down Shi Bo Avenue when smoke and flames began pluming out from beneath the body. Emergency services arrived on the scene quickly and no one was injured in the incident.

At this stage there is no explanation for the FF’s spontaneous combustion, and Ferrari China is currently investigating what happened to the car.

Edward Rowe from Ferrari’s Australian distributor European Automotive Imports said he had no extra information on the cause of the fire, and as such could not comment further.

Ferrari will be praying the FF fire is an isolated incident and not a more serious, widespread problem as was the case with the 458 Italia.

Ferrari was forced to recall 1248 of its $526,950 two-door 458 Italia sports cars in September 2010 after 10 caught fire within three months. The cause of those fires was an adhesive used in the wheel arches that could overheat, smoke and start a fire.

This is the first reported case of an FF catching fire.

The news comes as Ferrari prepares to unveil its all-new flagship 599 successor at next month’s Geneva motor show. Reports suggest the new supercar – tentatively referred to as the 620 GT – will be powered by a 6.3-litre V12 engine with in excess of 520kW of power. Its predecessor, the 599 GTB Fiorano F1, produced 456kW and 608Nm from its 6.0-litre V12.

Ferrari is full of momentum this year after achieving record sales and financial results in 2011. The Prancing Horse brand delivered 7195 sports cars last year, representing a 9.5 per cent increase over 2010.

The company’s revenue exceeded two billion euros ($2.5 billion) for the first time, and its trading profit increased 3.2 per cent to 312.4 million euros ($385.0 million).

Ferrari achieved record sales in the US with 1958 cars delivered, while the Greater China Area became the brand’s second-strongest region, with 777 cars sold. Germany (705), Great Britain (574) and the Middle East (approximately 450) were other dominant markets. Ferrari Australia delivered 134 cars in 2011, up 6.3 per cent on the previous year.

The Ferrari Museum in Maranello also hit a new high, with 240,000 visitors in 2011, including 60 per cent from outside Italy.

Note: Images courtesy CarsChina.com

OURS

I remember I’ve read somewhere before that someone / a company in India made a F430 replica from a Toyota Corolla

So could it be a Ferrari “replica” ???? That is, a “Ferrari” made with Chery’s underlying parts and engineering???

Birty_B

With Ferrari’s current record I’d probably say there’s a smaller chance of a Chery catching fire than a new Ferrari.
Birty_B

With Ferrari’s current record I’d probably say there’s a smaller chance of a Chery catching fire than a new Ferrari.
kazuo

LOL,good point, but i dont think thats a faked ferrari. last year 43 ferrari has been registered in a small town call Yiwu, alone with 12 Lambos. So in China a lots of ppl can actually afford the real thing
Aussuc

Your statement completely proves that you know nothing about China. In China, people wont take the fake Ferrari even if there is one because he will be the laughing stock of the others. Besides, have you ever heard a Chery burns itself? Yeah, Chery might be unreliable, unsafe and unfancy, but it’s purely 100% Chinese owned, what car company does Australia own? GM, Ford or Toyota? The Chinese dont have to send a minister to kiss the AMERICAN’s arse to save their car industry. See who is laughing in 20 years mate. Save your racist comment to yourself.

kazuo

China is moving forward and Australia is stoped moving completely,no government support for local industry,business getting worse,maybe another 20 years we have to rely on foreign aids?
Guest

china is a pos full of replicas. yea moving forward with fake copies

kazuo

moving forward with most jobs available. Do u know how hard to do business in AUstralia these days?yes Chinese r making replicas and also more original products than what we make it here. Obvious u havent involved in any business in your life. speak to anyone who has dealing with China then it will open up a whole new world to u.

Jinnzhang

Very good point

Bo

Stick to your ignorant and I don’t think those Chinese give a f*** about it and they are still driving what you so called “fake” Ferrari.

OURS

I remember I’ve read somewhere before that someone / a company in India made a F430 replica from a Toyota Corolla

So could it be a Ferrari “replica” ???? That is, a “Ferrari” made with Chery’s underlying parts and engineering???
440 R/T Charger

Good! Thats how should end up when they buy cars with dirty money.
440 R/T Charger

Good! Thats how should end up when they buy cars with dirty money.

Damian

You mean the ‘dirty money’ they use to buy our natural resources and keep Australians employed with?

zej

Dirty money because we get slugged with a carbon-dioxide tax, while the Chinese continue un-abated with their “dirty” coal-power based industry and make squillions?

omale

Yeh… after all, the developed nations have been emitting vastly, disproportionate amounts more of greenhouse gases since the industrial revolution. Even now, Australia releases four times more per person (proportionally) – China, India and other developing nations do not even come close to that figure. We are a laughing stock amongst the international community when people make statements like yours.

Did you ever question why it might be in Australia’s interests to have a carbon tax. It would essentially limit the current exponential growth in the economies of developing countries.

Nonetheless, we are a developed nation, one would think that we have a social conscience and act on scientific evidence.You could only be one of those persons on the wrong side of the bell curve to believe everything that is fed to you…

zej

Sounds like you may be on the opposide side of the bell curve, where everything is a giant conspiracy by large, faceless, multinational corporations. Did you ever stop to think about what tangiable effect (no, not warm fuzzy feelings based on self-righteous indignation, or delusions of grandeur regarding global leadership) that a carbon dioxide tax on 23 million people will have on the rest of the world? Is stopping the production of carbon dioxide (because it’s really, truly the only greenhouse gas….and a particularly evil one at that…) the answer to the world’s environmental issues? Having dealt with industry and government in developing nations, I can assure you that our misguided conscience, hysteria and subsequent overreaction regarding this carbon-dioxide tax make us the source of ridicule in the international community. Not that they’d officially say so, of course, given how much the stand to gain from this self-imposed lunacy.
omale

You make no real argument there. The tangential nature and overt disorganisation of your reply suggests you think likewise. Do you know what schizophrenia is or have you ever been formally evaluated? Your misguided rhetoric suggests you should at least consider a shrink.

Or you could just head to the ‘tea party’.
zej

Ooo.. those words are to big for me. I bow to your intellectual superiority, as should anyone else who doesn’t agree with you. We’re obviously either psychotic or stupid.
Guest

hey omale, i like your use of a thesaurus. you heard of that yet big man?

Mighty Boy

I rather pay the carbon tax than living in polluted city like Shenzhen.

440 R/T Charger

Super luxury car in China usually owned by 3 types of people: greedy property developer, factory owner and children of some government offical. The way they make their money…is dirty.

zej

And the way that you make your money is obviously squeaky clean.

Guest

um yea we actually work for our money, not from some corruption
Rzluo

corruption is where money goes, not where money comes from.
Guest

oh yeah, they don’t put the money in their own pocket. Instead, some one use union credit card spend on visiting brothel or do other service, etc. And THIS IS NOT CALLED CORRUPTION! what a joke!

Jauffre

Someone’s jealous about not having a Ferrari….

SP20

My maths come to a profit of $53,509 each car sold.
Guest2

Plenty of Lambo’s and Ferrari’s burnt up. Expen$ive doesn’t always equal high quality.