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CO2 Reduction Tops Environmental Developments

The green philosophy is gaining credence and support in all the developed nations.  Ferrari has taken the initiative to pursue a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in future models.
 
Amedeo Felisa, Ferrari SpA's vice general manager, recently noted that Ferrari's goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The target for each vehicle by 2012 is 280 to 300 grams per km  from the current 400 grams per km.
 
"We have to face the challenge of reducing consumption but not affecting the performance of the car," said Felisa at a recent "Auto Summit" meeting in Frankfurt, Germany. "Otherwise we move from our position in the market and we do not want to do that."

Ferrari's engineers are looking at every environmental option--from improving the performance of the engine to using lighter body materials.  "The answer is efficiency," explains Felisa.

Only a year ago, at an event in Maranello, Ferrari unveiled a concept car, the Millechili, with significantly less weight than current Ferrari models. The car was the result of a design competition sponsored by Ferrari, Pininfarina and aluminum chassis specialist Alcoa that, among other attributes, challenged environmental ingenuity.  Students from design schools in Japan, U.S., the UK and Italy submitted designs, which were judged by a panel that included Felisa,  Luca di Montezemolo, Jean Todt, Donato Coco, Massimo Fumarola and Sergio Pininfarina.  The Millechili was designed by Luis Agullo Spottorno (Spain) and Felix Hiller (Germany) of the Istituto Europeo di Design, Turin.
 
While the Millechili explores extreme weight reduction, Ferrari engineers also displayed biofuel models, "slippery" aerodynamic shapes and a prototype hybrid-electric design.