Understanding LaFerrari is a difficult task. Ferrari made its first attempt at the hybrid powertrain has revolutionized the brand that has the most prestigious racing pedigree of them all. It's the result of when the world’s greatest supercar maker sets out to create its greatest model ever.

Company president at the time, Luca Di Montezemolo described it simply as “the maximum expression of what defines our company,” as the LaFerrari was revealed at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. The LaFerrari featured an electric motor teamed with a 6.3-liter V12. A first for the prancing horse, but the product feels like a physical manifestation of the hard work and vision that Enzo Ferrari had for his marque.

It follows directly in the footsteps of the lineage of halo cars like the 288 GTO, the F40, F50, and Enzo: the LaFerrari had BIG shoes to fill. Add to that competition at the time from Porsche and McLaren with the 918 and P1, the LaFerrari had so much to prove.

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Presenting The Ferrari LaFerrari

Unveiling of the Ferrari LaFerrari
Via: Guide Auto

The Ferrari LaFerrari, code-named F70, is the successor to perhaps the most important modern classic of them all, the Enzo. It was unveiled at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show where It was announced that it would be produced through 2013 with only 499 units being built. Each of them was set to cost $1.3 Million, despite Ferrari receiving well over 1,000 orders for the car. On August 31st, 2016, Ferrari announced that a 500th LaFerrari will be sold to benefit the people of central Italy affected by the earthquake on the 24th of August.

This Ferrari was not drawn up by Pininfarina, which made it the first Ferrari since the 1973 Dino 308 not to have a Pininfarina design. This decision is a rare exception to the collaboration between Ferrari and Pininfarina that began in 1951. The body computer system is developed by Magneti Marelli Automotive Lighting, something which would lead to being a topic of conversation for critics.

Via Pinterest

The immediate response was, as you would expect, the talk of every automotive publication for the weeks to come. Although many thought that the lines drawn up by Marelli were too harsh and sharp to be that of a Ferrari. The vents and aero components were much more aggressive than the Ferrari clientele had previously been used to.

The LaFerrari was the product of extensive aerodynamic testing, after all, it had been the project of the Scuderia department, which also deals with the gargantuan task of F1 car design. All this is to say that despite a mixed bag of feelings on its design, the LaFerrari was a serious motor car. It was by far the most popular stand throughout that Geneva Motor Show and left the world wanting more as they waited to see what would come of the first-ever hybrid Ferrari.

Ferrari LaFerrari Engine Bay
Via TeamSpeed

The real talking point of the LaFerrari has always been the advancements it brought to Ferraris hybrid technology. At the heart of it though lies a longitudinally rear mid-mounted 6.3-liter V12, which produces 789 HP at 9,000 rpm and 516 FT-LB of torque at 6,750 rpm, and even features goodies such as F1-derived variable intakes, an adaptive oil pump, which measures g-forces.

It changed the game and made you question everything you knew about supercar engines. The naturally aspirated V12 in the LaFerrari needs no turbos to make it go and is a much better car for it. The hypercar race for superiority was well and truly on with Porsche and McLaren, and some could have thought a turbocharger or two missing as a disadvantage. But the power delivery of this V12 is like nothing else, and pushing the rev counter to its 9,250 RPM limit is nothing short of motoring perfection.

ferrari-hy-kers-in-mid-rear-engine-configuration_100388843_l
Via Ferrari Beverly Hills

To assist the LaFerrari's low-down torque delivery, Ferrari incorporated its first-ever hybrid-electric system ever, and in true Ferrari fashion, this system offers no eco-mode and delivers maximum power the whole time. Ferrari calls its hybrid system KERS, or kinetic energy recovery system, the same type of system used in the period Formula One car. When activated, the system boosts power outputs to an unapologetic 950 HP and 664 FT-LBof torque, similar figures to what the new 296 GTB pushes out using similar hybrid technology.

The hybrid system is composed of two electric motors developed in collaboration with Magneti Marelli—one powering the driven wheels and the second the ancillaries—and a battery pack attached to the floor of the chassis consisting of cells that are assembled in the Scuderia Ferrari department, the same responsible for F1 development.

This partnership between old-school rawness and modern-day gadgetry results in a serious package with corner exit acceleration that will match any GT3 car. The LaFerrari was a trailblazer, the current Ferrari flagship; SF90 owes its even stronger now plug-in hybrid composition solely to the success of LaF. Ferrari proclaimed hybrid systems were the future for the brand, and they were right.