2002 Ferrari Enzo Engine
Tradition may yet reign for the next Enzo, as Autocar reports Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa said that the Enzo successor will be powered by a mid-mounted V-12 and also utilize a carbon-fiber chassis. Though we previously reported that a twin-turbo V-8 might be destined for Ferrari’s next super-duper car, it appears the Italian sports car maker will follow a formula similar to that of the last Enzo, and F50 before it.
The announcement of the next Enzo’s powerplant wasn’t the only thing recently revealed about the upcoming supercar. Speaking to Autocar at the launch of the Ferrari 458 Spider, Felisa said the Enzo successor could also make use of hybrid technology. Ferrari already announced its intention to hybridize much of its future lineup at last year’s Geneva show in March, and we’ve seen 599 hybrid prototypes undergoing testing in Germany.
Felisa also told Autocar that the lessons Ferrari learned with its Formula 1 program and the development of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) for racing applications could prove useful in production cars. Still, Felisa maintained that such a system, if employed on a road-going car, would not focus solely on performance, but efficiency as well.
Our man on the scene, Executive Editor Ed Loh, confirmed that the Enzo successor will indeed sport a carbon-fiber monocoque chassis, and also gleaned some insight on Ferrari’s take on using the composite material in its regular production cars in the future – cars that, today, primarily use aluminum in their structure.
“The using of carbon fiber does not make sense,” Felisa told us in an interview. “If you compare what you can get with some part done in composite [with] full aluminum, you are very close in terms of weight…but the cost difference is huge.”
In addition to the weight savings versus cost argument, Felisa also stressed the difficulty of assessing damage to a carbon-fiber chassis after a crash. Whatever technology Ferrari has in store for its next Enzo, as well as the rest of its future lineup, the automaker says it’s focused on keeping its identity intact. Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo told Autocar that an official reveal of the Enzo successor would happen by the end of 2012, but a final name has yet to be chosen.
