Ferrari GTC4Lusso lands in Australia

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Ferrari's fastest family car has arrived Down Under in spectacular style.

The famous Italian brand showcased its latest four-seat sports car, the GTC4Lusso, for the first time in the southern hemisphere on the lawn of a $65million mansion in the ultra-wealthy Sydney harbourside suburb of Vaucluse today.

The car was unveiled by the company's Vice President of design, Flavio Manzoni, who made his first visit to Sydney for this week's opening of the Vivid design, ideas and light festival.

"I am thrilled to be making my first trip to Sydney and Australia to premiere the Ferrari GTC4Lusso in a state of the art modern home set against the incredible backdrop of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge," said Manzoni, who studied architecture before becoming a car designer.

"From my perspective, it is clear that Australians appreciate cutting edge design and innovation, which this car provides. We have worked hard to ensure that form and function combine to open up a whole new world of luxury performance."

The $578,888 (plus on-road costs) GTC4Lusso is the direct replacement for the FF, the company's first all-wheel drive, four-seater model.

It carries over the same concept, with its long, low bonnet flowing into a shooting brake-style back-end with enough space in the cabin for four seats. But Manzoni concedes the design has been refined, with a particular focus on improving the level of luxury and state-of-the-art features in the cabin, following criticism of the FF's polarising style.

"It was important to make the interior more luxurious in this car. It is something the customers were not quite satisfied with in the FF," he told Drive.

To meet that demand, the GTC4Lusso features a new 10.2-inch touch-pad multi media interface, higher-quality materials including machined aluminium highlights and even has a separate display for the passenger, who can toggle through a multitude of menus to see what the car and driver are doing - "like a copilot," says Manzoni.

Underneath the car's more muscular bodywork, it is powered by an updated 6.3-litre V12 that produces 507kW of power and 697Nm of torque, enough to slingshot the vehicle from 0-100km/h in 3.4 seconds and on to a top speed of 335km/h.

The GTC4Lusso drives all four wheels through a unique twin gearbox set-up, with a seven-speed dual-clutch unit sending drive to the rear wheels and a separate two-speed Power Transfer Unit mounted on the front of the engine powering the front wheels up to certain speeds for improved traction.

The car also features four-wheel steering for the first time, which is designed to improve both its low-speed manoeuvreability around town and its stability at high speeds while also increasing its road holding ability.

While the FF wasn't a huge sales success for Ferrari, the Italian brand says the GTC4Lusso will have a broader appeal as a genuine sporting alternative to the incoming offensive of uber-luxury SUVs such as the Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini's upcoming Urus.

The first deliveries in Australia are expected to arrive early in 2017

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2017 Ferrari GTC4Lusso price and specifications

On-sale: 2017

Price: $578,888 (plus on-road costs)

Engine: 6.3-litre V12

Power: 507kW at 8000rpm

Torque: 697Nm at 5750rpm

Transmission: 7-spd dual-clutch automatic, AWD

Fuel Use: 15L/100km