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Red Flag: Ferrari crafts a dozen 599 HGTE specials for China
Ferrari 599 HGTE China Limited Edition – Click above for high-res image gallery
It wasn't so long ago that the idea of seeing an exotic Italian sportscar in mainland China was as much an anathema as a Chinese car in America. But the times, as one Mr. Dylan sang, they are a-changin.' Today, China is one of Ferrari's most
important markets, where the red Prancing Horse shares the streets with the Red Dragon. To mark that relationship, Ferrari has announced a special edition exclusively for the Chinese market.Based on the 599 GTB Fiorano with the company's new Handling GTE package, the China Limited Edition has been updated with special touches designed by Chinese artist Lu Hao: the starter button glows jade green, the tachometer features ancient Chinese characters instead of the usual numerals, and the luggage is emblazoned with a map of the Silk Road taken by the famous Italian explorer Marco Polo. The Rosso Fuoco paintjob with the gray roof mimics the 599XX, and only a dozen examples will be made – with over a billion people in the market, we're betting they'll be snapped up fast. Check it out in the high-res image gallery below.
[Source: Ferrari]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Quest 5:04PM (10/05/2009)
That's so cool!
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Franz 5:05PM (10/05/2009)
Ditto.
airswingman 5:46PM (10/05/2009)
If US is still today,I guess China is tomorrow...
nuggetsmcduggets 5:09PM (10/05/2009)
From Ferrari Superamerica, Daytona, and California to Ferrari Shanghai. The paradigm shift is upon us...
Just kidding that would be ridiculous. I think?
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nuggetsmcduggets 5:11PM (10/05/2009)
'a billion people in the market'
Really? Every last one of them has the financial resources to purchase a Ferrari? Maybe communism really does work...
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DZ 5:22PM (10/05/2009)
Nice, nuggets you beat me to this post... If there's a billion people in China that are in the market for this car i'm learning Mandarin and moving asap because I want in on some of that.
chad.dawkins 6:35PM (10/05/2009)
Stop taking stuff so seriously.
Tang 5:34PM (10/05/2009)
Is it funny that the calligraphy is pointless because China uses simplified Chinese? Throw it at Taiwan... I'm sure my cousins wouldn't mind :D
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PS 5:48PM (10/05/2009)
wow found this 599GTB China Porcelain Edition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86B8Dmg1Wio
the4thheat 9:40PM (10/05/2009)
I don't think anybody in Taiwan uses ancient Chinese either, lol.
I think the silk road luggage is pretty cool though-showing the path from Italy to China that Marco Polo took is pretty clever when you're talking about an Italian supercar's Chinese special edition.
auto.design 5:42PM (10/05/2009)
The Chinese RPM dial is strange. Arabic numerals are used most of the time in China, and when they aren't, simplified characters are used. I've only seen the traditional numbers once before. Strange that Ferrari would use those.
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Will 6:49PM (10/05/2009)
The numbers are not "tradition Chinese", they are one of the ancient Chinese scripts that are pretty much extinct except in decorative art. Most of the characters do bear some resemblance to contemporary versions though.
This is more like using Roman numerals on watches.
the4thheat 9:48PM (10/05/2009)
Yeah these aren't traditional-they're ancient. So this is how people used to write in China thousands of years ago. The characters evolved over many centuries into traditional.
BTW traditional and simplified chinese share most of their characters-they only simplified stuff that was hard to write and numbers are definitely not complex characters (or Chinese mathematicians would probably have gone insane). Thus if you've seen the numbers in simplified you've seen them in traditional and vice versa.
These characters are basically Chinese hieroglyphs.
hmmwv 5:50PM (10/05/2009)
First of all, this car is awesome, too bad they are only making 12, they shouldn't have any problems selling 120 of those, even at the same price premium.
It would be strange to see calligraphy characters in simplified Chinese, nearly all Chinese calligraphy are done in the traditional form, even in mainland China. Actually most people won't have any problems reading traditional Chinese, they are everywhere, especially in ads and on company logos.
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EXP Jawa 6:02PM (10/05/2009)
They probably only 12 to get the copycats set up...
cool_ozzyfromkalush 5:58PM (10/05/2009)
Why didn't Ferrari think of that type of tachometer, when I was buying mine... :D
nvm...
Great idea though.
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Muscovy 8:40PM (10/05/2009)
They should've done the speedometer in the Chinese characters too. That way, regardless of the speed you are actually going at, passengers will say, "Holy crap! You're driving at !?# mph!"
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the4thheat 9:49PM (10/05/2009)
Nah, if you're rich enough to buy this all your passengers are probably ancient Chinese warlocks.
Dana 2:04AM (10/06/2009)
Actually I think this is awesome, using 2500 year old style seal script definitely gives the Ferrari a touch of nobility. Seal script works on a chinese spec Ferrari as this writing was mostly used for metal artisans work.
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Quan 2:06AM (10/06/2009)
I love it. The 599XX aping paint job, the jade green start engine button, the Silk Road on the luggage. Man to be rich and living in China. These are just awesome. It's too bad all 12 are probably already spoken for, not that I'd have the money for one of them.
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