According to Amedeo Felisa, top executive of the Italian luxury carmaker, Ferrari will not have wide applications of carbon fiber on their production street cars until they get a better understanding of how reliable the material will be in the long run.
The Ferrari boss also explained that they will only make use of carbon fiber for low production units which will not be running on the road everyday, just like the Enzo.
Ferrari has utilized carbonfiber in cars like the Enzo and the F50 but the company disclosed that they are not ready yet to apply it to the whole range of vehicles. Other luxury car manufacturers have decided to make use of the carbonfiber as well. The MP4-12C from McLaren will have tub made from carbon. Mercedes-Benz will also use the materials for their cars by 2012. German car marques BMW will be using carbonfiber by 2013.
Felisa also explains that nobody in the automotive industry has a full understanding of the carbonfiber material and how it will be like after two or three decades of being used. He contrasts the application of carbon fiber for the airplane industry and how experts of flight have a long-term knowledge of using carbon fiber. He also emphasize that the Ferrari of today can still be repaired unless you get into a really big mess, and they do not want problems arising from the less understood carbon fiber material.
The Ferrari topman also hints that the new Enzo will be fitted with a twin turbo V8 with direct injection when it officially launches on 2012. This is contrary to earlier speculations that it will carry a V6. Felisa explained that Ferrari will not build a V6 unless the market changes its attitude towards the smaller powerplant.
Felisa also said that Ferrari is working on hybrid technologies that can be used with their V10 and V8 cars. This is also one way to protect their V12.
Reference: autocar
