The New Ferrari J50 Is One Of Its Most Exclusive Cars Yet

Wealthy people buy Ferraris. They’re expensive cars. But really wealthy people want something no-one else has, which is why even a regular Ferrari sometimes just isn’t enough. The company will happily entertain designing a one-off car for its most committed clients (Eric Clapton ordered one, as did an heir to the Wal-Mart fortune), but has lately been mining a rich seam in what it calls its "limited series" cars.

Last year, 70 LaFerrari Apertas sold out before they were even announced, despite costing £1.5m each. Before that was the Sergio (just six of those). In 2014, fast-moving US citizens could have the F60 America (ten "units"). Now Ferrari is marking another anniversary with a car you will never see: the J50, named to honour the 50 years Ferrari has been flogging cars in Japan. Better still, despite the intense fascination that surrounds the Prancing Horse, this one came out of nowhere, breaking cover at an event in the National Art Center in Tokyo. Japanese Ferraristi are famously emotive; this must have blown the roof off the place.

The J50 is based on the 488 Spider, so it shares its chassis and "hard points": these limited run cars have to meet all the existing safety requirements, so the basics can’t change. Beyond that, though, what we have here is one of the best-looking open Ferraris for years, primarily because the J50 doesn’t have to accommodate the folding hard-top roof that mars the 488 Spider’s otherwise svelte silhouette. Instead, it uses a pair of carbon fibre targa panels, which has freed up Ferrari’s restlessly creative Centro Stile to encase the car’s rear end in a body whose panels push the very concept of curves to a point just shy of Anita Ekberg-esque caricature.

Source: The New Ferrari J50 Is One Of Its Most Exclusive Cars Yet