Ferrari has lifted the...

Ferrari has lifted the lid even further on its all-new supercar, the

California. Following official pictures of the baby GT with its roof

down (Issue 1,013), the Italian firm has now released more showing the

modelтЂ™s electric hard-top in place тЂ“ and in action.

As you can

see, itтЂ™s made up of two pieces тЂ“ the roof itself and a separate

opening section that comprises the bootlid and most of the rear end.

According to Ferrari, the hood stows in only 14 seconds at the flick of

a switch. The California is also practical. Conceived as a more usable

alternative to the F430, it has luggage space behind the front seats,

and 360 litres of capacity roof-up, 260 roof-down.

The model

is smaller than the 599 GTB, but not exactly compact. Measuring 4.56m

by 1.9m, itтЂ™s nearly 300mm longer than a Lamborghini Gallardo and just

as wide. These pictures show the car in Azzurro California blue, the

colour used for the original carтЂ™s appearance at 1962тЂ™s New York Motor

Show.

This version gets a 454bhp 4.3-litre V8 with a

seven-speed dual clutch gearbox, which is claimed to deliver 21.4mpg

combined and CO2 emissions of 310g/km. The 0-60mph sprint is dispatched

in four seconds.

The company also claims the CaliforniaтЂ™s body

develops 70kg of downforce at 125mph, while the technical highlights

include Launch Control, a system which manages rear wheel slip

electronically, resulting in maximum standing start acceleration.

According

to Ferrari, the newcomer has recently been put through its paces by

company president, Luca di Monte-zemolo, at the firmтЂ™s Fiorano test

track. He described it as тЂњsupremely flexible in terms of usageтЂќ. The

model will go on sale towards the end of 2009, priced around ТЈ130,000.