It appears that the Ferrari Sergio, the stunning Pininfarina-designed speedster concept that debuted at last year's Geneva Motor Show, has been confirmed for production according to a report by CNN Money.
Don't get your hopes up on scoring one, however – only six will ever be made, they are expected to cost millions each, and they have all been sold out by invitation only to extremely wealthy Ferrari aficionados in the United States, Europe and Asia. Better luck next time, perhaps.
The Sergio concept was penned by the Cambiano-based design house as a tribute to the legendary Sergio Pininfarina, who passed away in 2012. Built on the bones and the mechanicals of the 458 Spider, it was lighter, faster and stiffer than the donor-car, and far more gorgeous – no mean feat when the existing 458 wasn't exactly an ugly duckling to begin with.
Some changes would have to be made to put the Sergio on the road, however. A couple of purportedly leaked pictures show a potential production-spec model, incorporating a number of significant updates. The biggest of these are a full windscreen and side windows – allowing driver and passenger to avoid the use of a helmet for safety reasons – as well as full-sized doors (with wing mirrors) in place of tiny half-sized items.
Elsewhere, the deep side air intakes have been dispensed with – smaller intakes aft of the side windows feed air to the engine instead, just like on a regular 458. The impossibly low nose of the concept has also been raised slightly, the headlights moved upwards (presumably to comply with headlight height regulations) and the front air vents removed as there is now no need to direct air over the occupants.
Extremely limited-run bespoke supercars like the Sergio are key for Ferrari to retain its exclusivity in the market as it is set to lose its self-imposed 7,000-unit-per-year production limit in order to boost Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' (FCA) bottom line. Yesterday, FCA announced its intention to spin Ferrari off into a separate entity, listing 10% of its shares on stock markets in the US and possibly in Europe.
Pininfarina Sergio concept
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