Seven years after Ferrari’s ground-breaking hybrid hyper car was launched, a new LaFerrari-based prototype has been spotted testing on Italian roads. Wearing only light camouflage, the mule makes no attempt to hide its LaFerrari-derived bodywork, people have already spotted that the blue triangular sticker on the side confirms that it, too, is driven by a hybrid powertrain.
There isn’t much chance that this is a development chassis left over from the testing programme for Maranello’s hyper-hybrid, though. Firstly, because the camouflage looks to be new and shows a pattern different from that sported by the original LaFerrari mules, and secondly because there are a number of subtle but important visual differences.
The wheels, for example, are attached to the hubs by five conventional studs, whereas the production-spec LaFerrari used a centre-locking device. The front end looks to have been reshaped, too, with the lower bumper losing its central divider and gaining a pair of prominent air-channelling winglets at the side. More significantly, the roofline seems to have been reshaped and a new engine cover installed, hinting at a different-shaped powerplant from the electrified, mid-mountred 6.3-litre V12 that motivated the LaFerrari.
A Ferrari spokesperson declined to comment about the pictures and it remains to be seen weather or not this is just a LaFerrari bodyshell being used to test mechanics for other makes and models.