New Ferrari HC25 is a V8-powered, drop-top piece of art
The Ferrari HC25 is based on the old F8 Spider, meaning it’s got a 710bhp 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 underneath its beautifully sculpted rear deck
Feast your eyes on the Ferrari HC25: a “pure, uncompromising roadster” and the new one-off creation by Maranello’s Special Projects division, reserved only for its most passionate and privileged clients. Lucky them.
Styled by Ferrari’s head of design Flavio Manzoni and his team, the HC25 was apparently intended to bring a “bold, forward-looking perspective” and some echoes of the new Ferrari F80 hypercar to the brand’s mid‑engined, drop-top supercars.
The HC25 has muscularity and voluptuous curves, like many of Ferrari’s latest production cars, but the proportions have been refined to minimise the visual impact of the glazing and to try to lower the shoulder line.
Meanwhile, the glossy black band that wraps around the mid-section of the HC25 doesn’t just provide a contrast to the matt Moonlight Grey paint or incorporate functional elements such as the air intakes. The arrow-like shape down the side gives the car’s silhouette an added sense of “momentum”, and accentuates the big rear haunches.
As an example of just how unique the HC25 is, even the headlight units have been specially created for it, using new technology never seen before on a Ferrari that allows for thinner lenses. The boomerang-like virtual daytime running lights are a first for the brand as well.
That boomerang shape is repeated in the seat upholstery, with yellow graphics and stitching contrasting against the grey technical fabric. It’s rather refreshing to see a Ferrari interior not merely covered in Alcantara and carbon fibre trim.
Underneath, the HC25 is based on the old Ferrari F8 Spider, rather than today’s Ferrari 296 GTS. That means there’s no complicated hybrid drivetrain, just a 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 that revs to 8,000rpm, has 710bhp and sends all its power to the rear wheels, singing through a set of large exhausts tips just above the car’s aggressive rear diffuser.
Ferrari launched its coachbuilding Special Projects programme back in 2008 and since then it has produced some wonderfully extravagant prancing horses, such as Eric Clapton’s SP12 EC inspired by the 512 Berlinetta Boxer from the seventies.
The process of designing and crafting these unique creations takes around two years on average, according to Ferrari, with the customers closely involved throughout the process.
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