Little known fledgling aftermarket tuner Ferrari has announced that the
HGTE upgrade - until now only available on freshly ordered 599 Fioranos - can be bought as a dealer fit accessory.
It's a slightly complicated business, because if your Ferrari is pre-2008 you can only have the handling, exhaust and styling upgrades, but a post-2008 car can have the full performance upgrade too, adding quicker shift times for the gearbox and sharper throttle response. You can't have this if your car is manual, though you can have the exhaust upgrade it also includes separately.
The handling pack lowers and stiffens the suspension and alters the adjustment options accessible via the steering wheel Manettino. It adds thicker anti-roll bars too. You also get a brand new set of lightweight and unique-looking rims, shod in tyres with more grip than the standard rubber. Exactly eight percent more, in fact.
Then there's the aesthetic stuff, comprising a new front grille, brushed metal prancing horse badges and, erm, that's it. The interior trim variations on spanking new HGTE cars can't be fitted. And the cost for this little dalliance with the dealer? Around £20k, or a couple of grand less for a pre-2008 model.
Mark Nichol - 16 Jul 2009