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Glickenhaus' FIA championship-winning P4/5 Competizione comes home [w/video]

The sexy Ferrari P4/5 Competizione, a cross between the lightweight F430 Scuderia and the race-only F430 GT2 with special Pininfarina bodywork, spent some time in Europe notching a few race victories. But it finally has made its way back to the US and into owner Jim Glickenhaus' collection, where it met its sister car and inspiration, the original P4/5.
During its short-but-sweet two-year racing campaign, it competed in just two races but left a big impact. We'd call any lap of the Nürburgring that's under seven minutes a victory, but, with the help of a hybrid drivetrain, the P4/5C qualified for the 2012 Nürburgring 24 Hours with a lap of 6:51. That's faster than any Ferrari-powered vehicle has ever gone around the 'Ring. The car then went on to win the EXP-1 class (for experimental vehicles), for a World Championship, and finished the race 12th overall in a field of 170 cars. Not bad at all.
For those who haven't kept up on the P4/5C, the hybrid powertrain was introduced to the one-off racecar for 2012 after it had attempted the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2011 with negligible results. A Ferrari 4.0-liter V8 was joined by a Formula One-style Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), good for a combined 563 horsepower.

A Ferrari SUV? First you'll have to shoot Marchionne

Almost every car company has its own SUV in the range. Porsche added this kind of vehicle almost 15 years ago and it may have saved the company, Bentley decided to join this growing segment launching the Bentayga, and Jaguar is doing the same with the F-Pace. Everyone is trying to get the most from the growing Asian market (China especially) launching models very appreciated over there. But not Ferrari. This is what came out from an earnings call with the Ferrari CEO where analysts asked how he was thinking to reach the goal of selling 7,000 units/year, balancing the slump of 22% of the Chinese market: "I don't think it's going to recover this year," said Marchionne, "but we won't make an SUV. You have to shoot me first." Since the spin off from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ferrari's share price has fallen and this news is not good for investors that expected high profit for 2016. Ferrari has a racing history, and SUVs are not to be part of this history any time soon; the image of the Prancing Horse would come out damaged from this choice and Marchionne seems to know it very well. Related Video: Image Credit: Ferrari Ferrari Crossover SUV Sergio Marchionne open road

'Sensual but also logical': Ferrari's Flavio Manzoni opines on design at London exhibit

Ferrari design boss Flavio Manzoni was in London this week for the opening of a five-month exhibition on the famous Italian brand, part of its 70th-anniversary celebrations, at the world-famous Design Museum. So Autoblog jumped at the chance to ask the man behind the La Ferrari, FXX, 488 GTB and more about his design approach and inspirations, and also what he thinks about designing a Ferrari SUV, or even an EV. Manzoni, 52, is pleasingly Italian in manner and accented English. Passionate and forthright, he has strong views on what makes good design in general and for Ferrari in particular. Having increased the importance of the brand's Styling Centre considerably since becoming head of design in 2010, the now 80-strong team increasingly creates new vehicles in-house (as opposed to using former independent design company Pininfarina). The first project Manzoni fully oversaw within Ferrari was the La Ferrari. He's a firm believer in form following function, "but not in a German way," he says with a smile, citing the side of the 488 GTB, which is shaped by the need to divert air in a certain way around the car and also to look fantastic. As he declares: "You'd never find lines on a Ferrari just for decoration. The scoop on the 488 GTB is sensual but also logical." As another example, he says that his "latest baby," the track-focused FXX K Evo, took a different path from the very engineering-focused Enzo of 2002, designed well before he joined the company. "We worked for eight months with the engineers on the FXX, to keep the functionality and make it beautiful." In Manzoni's job, it would be impossible not to respect Ferrari's incredible back catalog — he owns a Gandini-designed Ferrari 208 GT4, "still very beautiful, but iconic as well" — but he's no slave to the past. "Deja vu is something we don't like," he says with a slightly scolding look. "We don't agree with nostalgia or the need to create a family feeling throughout our range. But a Ferrari must be recognizable without the badge. There are different ways to do this — not just in details like the headlamps, but sometimes in how you treat the surfaces. It's tricky to explain, but it's a feeling." View 12 Photos He's also not keen on following industry trends and has historically spoken out against luxury SUVs. "Every time we work on a new Ferrari, we try to improve on every aspect — including the center of gravity — so an SUV is not a Ferrari," he stated as recently as 2015.