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Lawsuit alleges Ferrari diagnostic tool used to roll back odometers

A longtime Ferrari salesman is accusing a Palm Beach dealership of using Ferrari's DEIS diagnostic tester tool to reset a 2015 LaFerrari's odometer, driving the supercar's value up by over $1 million. The lawsuit alleges that in October 2015, a technician at New Country Motor Cars reset the digital odometer of the LaFerrari in exchange for cash from its then-owner. What makes the lawsuit especially interesting is that it says using the DEIS tester to perform a rollback would require logging in with Ferrari North America, and alleges the technician was on the phone with Ferrari NA during the operation. The odometer-tampering allegation came up as part of the plaintiff's wrongful-termination claim against New Country Motor Cars. The lawsuit also alleges the tester has been used for this purpose beginning in April 2010, along with a written Ferrari policy manual and instructions and factory authorization, and was performed as recently as March 2015 during official Ferrari factory technician training in Italy. Odometer tampering is a dodgy business and a federal crime, no matter whether you're turning back the reading of an old taxi or a Ferrari worth millions. The lawsuit was first reported by the British Daily Mail, and subsequently covered by Jalopnik. The lawsuit has produced a countersuit by the owner of the LaFerrari in question.Related Video:

2016 Ferrari 488 Spider First Drive | Pure, uncut spectacle

The majority of the cars that have rolled out of the gates at Maranello can be described as varying degrees of spectacular. Still, until you settle in behind the wheel, you wonder if a real Ferrari can live up to the hype. The first thing I took note of in the Ferrari 488 Spider was the immense and nearly instantaneous acceleration into questionable speeds. It should have been obvious from the start, but the rate that this car builds speeds still managed to surprise me, like the cold wind on a January morning. You've checked the weather on your phone and you know it's going to be cold, but you still wince with that first sharp breeze on your cheek. It's a totally different sensation than something like the Dodge Viper. The Viper requires deliberate effort for everything. Getting in and out is a pain in the ass. The clutch is long and heavy and the pedal box is tiny. The hefty steering requires some strength, especially at low speeds. The shifter wholly mechanical thing that requires a little more motivation than you would expect. It's not easy and it's not trying to be, just so you're not tempted to underestimate it. By comparison, the Ferrari is cake. The doors open wide allowing easy access, made even easier with the retractable hardtop stowed away. The cabin, while completely covered in black leather, is open enough to not feel claustrophobic. The steering is light but doesn't feel loose and the 7-speed dual-clutch transmission can be left in automatic to make things easier. In sport mode, the exhaust is relatively subdued, allowing you to actually enjoy the stereo should you choose to. But goose the gas and a wave of panic and exhilaration momentarily wash away any other thoughts. The 488 Spider packs a mid-mounted 3.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8 making 661 horsepower and 561 lb-ft of torque. It's not quite the screamer of past Ferrari V8s, but what it lacks in aural excitement it makes up for in brute force. The old 4.5-liter V8 in the Ferrari 458 was powerful, but most of that power was at the top of the rev range. On the other hand, the 488 feels strong in any gear at any RPM. Boost is limited in lower gears, changing the power band in an effort to dull the turbo lag somer. While there isn't a big kick when boost comes on, it doesn't feel quite like a naturally-aspirated engine either. Once you're in boost, complaints seem to fall by the wayside.

Weekly Recap: Ferrari, Ford and Porsche power up for Geneva

Monday was Groundhog Day. Tuesday, apparently, was Sports Car Day. The Ferrari 488 GTB, the Ford Focus RS and the Porsche Cayman GT4 all debuted within hours of each other ahead of their rollouts at the Geneva Motor Show. Three sporty machines, three vastly different approaches – and a lot of implications for enthusiasts. That's a day worth repeating. It also illustrates the opportunities automakers see in the performance market, which is expected to grow in the coming years. Ford estimates the segment has expanded 14 percent in Europe and surged 70 percent in North America since 2009. The Detroit Auto Show was evidence of this, and performance cars of every stripe debuted, including the Acura NSX, Ford GT, Alfa Romeo 4C Spider and several others. This isn't a fad. Performance cars aren't going away. The question is why? Stricter CAFE standards are looming in the United States, as are tighter emissions regulations in Europe. And no one expects gas prices to remain low in America. None of this matters for sports cars, and automakers are increasingly using them to elevate their images. That's why Dodge rolled out two 707-horsepower Hellcats last year. It's why Ford has decided to resurrect the GT for road and track. It's why in the depths of bankruptcy, General Motors continued work on the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, not to mention the Z06. "Great brands are made one car at a time," Ford of Europe president Jim Farley said at the reveal of the Focus RS. Still, companies make those cars for different reasons. View 5 Photos Mainstream brands like Ford and Dodge want to build cars that get people talking, excite their bases and drive more potential customers into the showroom. They probably don't buy a Focus RS or a Hellcat, but suddenly the regular Focus hatch looks a bit hotter, and that V6 Charger seems to be just a touch more muscular. The halo of performance is alive and well in the eyes of automakers and their customers. "It's one of the most effective catalysts for ingenuity and innovation," said Joe Bakaj, vice president of product development for Ford of Europe. That also leads to a trickle-down effect. Some of the technologies inevitably make their way to other products. It's hard to think the new all-wheel-drive system in the Focus RS that distributes torque front to rear and side to side won't be used in other vehicles. It's different for Ferrari and Porsche.