Hybrid Ferrari is the Company’s Fastest Ever

Ferrari SpA's new LaFerrari is the company's first hybrid and its fastest and its costliest supercar ever.

Ferrari unveiled the car on Tuesday at the Geneva auto show, describing it as an "advanced laboratory" for technologies to be found in future models. The company did not announce a price, but observers predict it will be stickered at €1 million ($1.3 million) or more.

The two-seater, which succeeds the Ferrari Enzo, is propelled by a 6.3-liter, naturally aspirated V-12 engine that makes 800 hp. An electric motor produces 163 hp and contributes additional torque during acceleration.

A 90-kg (198-lb) battery drives the motor, which supplements the piston engine but never power the car alone. Ferrari says tapping the motor's ability to deliver maximum torque from a standstill enabled it to shift peak power of the V-8 to a record-high 9,000 rpm. The powertrain can deliver more than 664 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels through a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Borrowing heavily from Ferrari's Formula One racing technology, the car features four types of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic components, active diffusers and spoilers, dynamic chassis adjustments and an F1-inspired kinetic energy recovery system that stores energy collected during braking. The KERS also converts unneeded torque made by the engine (during cornering, for example) and stores it in the system's battery for later use.

Ferrari says LaFerrari can reach 100 kph (62 mph) in less than three seconds and is at least three seconds faster around its test track in Fiorano than any other road car it has ever built. The car maintains the 42% front-58% rear weight distribution the company considers ideal.

Ferrari plans to build 499 of the cars through the end of 2014 and says it already has more than 700 offers to buy one.