The ­Limoncello ­Effect

All roads lead to Rome. And then what? Ferrari has the answer: after Rome – or in this case the Ferrari Roma – comes the Ferrari Amalfi, named after the town that smells of lemons. So much for the vibe and the logic behind the new model’s name. And yes, there’s already a convertible version as well.

The rest is a matter of design language. To highlight the sculptural nature of the Roma’s successor, the good people in Maranello opted against facial features and mimicry. The result – as with the 12Cilindri – is something of an homage to the Ferrari Daytona, which is hardly a bad thing. Chief designer Flavio Manzoni speaks of an “anthropomorphic effect” – even if the shark-nose design appears to extend that human analogy into the animal kingdom. Though we’re more reminded of a dolphin – which isn’t that far off when you consider the evolutionary convergence that now dominates automotive design. Everyone’s stuck in the same traffic jam, even if their technological approaches differ.

Still, when we hear phrases like “we listened more to our clients” (marketing officer Enrico Galliera) and “easy to drive for early users” (head of product development Gianmaria Fulgenzi), a little dolce caution is in order. Another feel-good Ferrari?

That may sound a bit dismissive, but let’s not forget: we’re still talking about Ferrari at the very top of its game. Front-mid V8, 640 hp, twin turbo, eight-speed DCT, 320 km/h top speed. And yes, they actually listened: they’ve digitally decluttered the manettino, the multifunction steering wheel, meaning all functions are now tactile (you press them!) and the start button is mechanical – a deliciously round piece of red-anodized aluminum instead of a plasma light from nowhere. And then: the sound of Ferrari, just as it should be.

Why do so many carmakers have to get things wrong first? They all read ramp, don’t they? Galliera adds, programmatically: “Not only pleasure of driving but enjoy life.” Hmm. Maybe that’s the problem – those flat marketing platitudes. Automakers don’t want to be engineers anymore; they want to be writers, aesthetes, psychologists – people who peer into the human soul. “Dolce vita, but still stimulating; flagship of a renewed lifestyle.”

What comes across as a heap of marketing babble is in fact summed up perfectly in the name: from the culturally deep-rooted Caput Mundi to the Limoncello coast. From the finely chiseled Roma to the sugar-glazed Amalfi. You don’t always have to love it.

At the early design preview (the car still hidden under a red silk cover), design chief Flavio Manzoni presents to the world’s press a highly polished core form – a roughly fifty-centimeter-long, sand-sculpted ideal with no wheels, no glass, no exhaust. A pure art object. He invokes sculptor Brâncuși, speaks of conceptual meta-­design and “interlocking of volumes”, and describes the two souls within: on one side the Ferrari feeling – by which he means pressure, power, speed-shifting and road-holding – and on the other ( ... )

→ You can read the whole story in the new ramp #69 "More Than Machines".