Mysterious LaFerrari hits the patent office

Ferrari applied to register the attached design with the European Union Intellectual Property Office in August last year, but it’s only today the intriguing images have been published on EUIPO’s site. Very little information is available at this point, other than the fact that we know for sure the patent belongs to Ferrari S.p.A. and the car was styled by Flavio Manzoni, none other than the company’s head of design.

By the looks of it, we’re dealing with a vehicle largely based on the sold-out LaFerrari coupe, but with very different headlights featuring a thin strip of LEDs. It’s the same story at the back where the taillights are also very slim and appear to be interconnected in the middle by a body-colored piece that makes us think of the Bugatti Chiron’s horizontal light strip.

Massive front air vents dipped in carbon fiber and a prominent splitter indicate it might be a beefier version of the LaFerrari. The rear bumper looks substantially more aggressive than what the “regular” model has and it eschews the quad exhaust round tips to make room for an angular setup with the two tips per side stacked on top of each other.

The side profile reveals a spectacular connection between the front fenders and the A-pillars as well as an equally impressive linkage between the rear fenders and the roof. The use of conventional side mirrors instead of cameras hints it’s a road-going car rather than a concept, but it’s too early to know for sure.

So, what exactly is this? A one-off LaFerrari perhaps? The folks from Maranello have been making a great deal of special projects lately, with recent examples including the SP275 RW Competizione and the J50. Might this be a new one? The company is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, so one could speculate it’s some sort of unique LaFerrari created to mark the important milestone.

Whatever this is, hopefully it has a great name.

Motor1