Why Ferrari wants to leave the past in the past
Critics of modern car design have argued it has become like Hollywood – when original ideas run out, the classics get revived, often to varying degrees of success.
Remember the retro craze of the 2000s? It spawned vehicles like the heritage-inspired Toyota FJ Cruiser, celebrated by some as a tribute to the company’s past and scorned by others for supposedly disrespecting the classic FJ.
More recently, there’s been another boom of sorts for retro designs. Renault has received a warm response to its revival of the iconic 5 as an electric vehicle, and other brands like Honda and Volkswagen have also looked at their past hits for inspiration.
Supplied Credit: CarExpert
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Ferrari is more than aware of these trends, and though its new 12Cilindri has elements of long-gone hero cars – such as its 365 GTB/4 ‘Daytona’ – in its design, the man who penned it doesn’t want to lean too heavily on the marque’s heritage.
“Talking about getting inspiration from the past, it’s a very dangerous trick because once you get involved in that loop, you start to get inspired by the past and all of a sudden, the ideas from the past get finished,” said Andrea Militello, Ferrari’s head of grand tourer exterior design.
“So what’s coming next? Our focus is always trying to foresee the future and project the objects we’re designing towards the future.
“Retro design is not in our book honestly, because we’re trying to develop the designs that might be an inspiration for those that come after us. The approach of this specific car for instance was oriented towards a design approach which is inspired by science fiction.”
Ferrari Daytona Credit: CarExpert
While Mr Militello acknowledges the connection between the 12Cilindri’s design and the Pininfarina-styled Ferrari Daytona, he says this was intended as little more than a homage rather than a copy of the iconic grand tourer.
“I do guess that this question comes from an eventual inspiration from a car like a 365 GTB/4 for the front especially,” Mr Militello added.
“But there are similarities because we are not ashamed of our past, so we are happy to see that there’s a link in the legacy design of the history of the brand.
“The idea was to have a very neutral element in the front which incorporates all the lightning functions and at the same time get rid of an expression of facial expression on the front, which helps to give a futuristic approach.”
Daytona SP3 Credit: CarExpert
Ferrari’s global marketing director Emanuele Carando reflected on the brand’s limited-run Icona models, which have arguably drawn a more direct inspiration from past models, though this has been explicitly done as a tribute rather than a subtle nod to its classics.
“Whenever we look at the models we develop, I mean we do have a strong heritage and we look at our heritage but always trying to do something different,” Mr Carando said.
“If you look at our Icona – the Monza SP1 and SP2, or Daytona SP3 – those cars do not reflect and do not modernise any of our historic models, but they have a contemporary interpretation of a specific age.
“The Monza is an interpretation of the Barchetta of the 1950s, so it doesn’t rely on a single model. The Daytona SP3 is the interpretation of the sports prototypes of the 1960s.
“Every time we try to build on the legacy but bring something new.”
What do you think about classic car designs being revived? Let us know in the comments below.
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