Ferrari shows off hybrid supercar's chassis

PARIS -- Ferrari says it will launch its most powerful road car ever at the Detroit auto show in January: a gasoline-electric hybrid that replaces the limited-edition Enzo.

A carbon fiber chassis of the vehicle was unveiled at the auto show here last month.

Sources say the model will deliver 900 hp, combining a new V-12 normally aspirated direct-injection gasoline engine with an electric motor, part of a high-performance hybrid system Ferrari calls HY-KERS.

Ferrari says the Enzo replacement will surpass the F12 Berlinetta's 740 hp.

The hybrid system will add about 330 pounds -- 110 pounds for the electric motor and controls and 220 pounds for batteries.

So Ferrari is using carbon fiber to keep the weight as close as possible to the Enzo's 3,009 pounds.

"To save weight, we switched to the carbon fiber used in Formula One race cars rather than the Resin Transfer Molding normally used," Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa told Automotive News Europe.

That allowed Ferrari to make the chassis 20 percent lighter than the Enzo's chassis, though torsional rigidity has been increased 27 percent and beam stiffness is up by 22 percent.

Samsung Electronics will provide lithium ion cells to Ferrari, which will assemble battery packs at its F1 racing headquarters.

Although Ferrari is keeping the name a secret, the Italian press has speculated that the car will be called the F70. Ferrari used F40 for the model launched to celebrate the company's 40th anniversary in 1987 and F50 for a supercar that came 10 years later. The latest limited-edition supercar was named Enzo after company founder Enzo Ferrari.

In Paris, Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said: "You can be sure it will not be called Luca."