Happy Birthday to me! Giorgetto Giugiaro, the Old Master of Italian styling is presenting a special Ferrari at the Tokyo Motor Show to mark his 50 years of activity in the world of car design. Based on a 612 Scaglietti, the car is a generous touring model with a hatchback, folding rear seats giving greater luggage space - and of course a Ferrari 5,748 cc V12 driving the rear wheels.
The idea to design a very personal Ferrari to celebrate this important anniversary came to Giugiaro for the first time at the Paris Motor Show in 2004 when he had discussions with President and CEO of Ferrari, Luca di Montezemolo. From that moment it was decided to use the 612 Scaglietti as the basis for the concept, and Giugiaro received full technical blessing from Ferrari - as long as the design would be recognisable as a genuine Ferrari. He started work immediately on 1:10 scale sketches - as he did 50 years earlier - that were turned into 1:1 reality by his son Fabrizio, using the Italdesign-Giugiaro Virtual Reality Design Center to produce a full-scale plaster model in April this year. By June a rolling prototype had been made.
In its powerplant and running gear - 5.7 litre V12, 540 HP, rear transaxle with 6-speed sequential change - the Ferrari GG50 is similar to its production counterpart, the focus has rather been on styling and use of space in the interior.