Interiors

The 612 Scaglietti boasts a wonderfully sophisticated sporty interior that reflects its all-aluminium structure and advanced technologies.

The pressed or solid aluminium used for the interior becomes a decorative element: it’s there on the desk, the air vent block, the climate control buttons, the F1A paddles, the pedals and passenger treadplate.

The dashboard offers the driver a cluster of analogue and digital instruments. Alongside the big rev counter is the five inch multifunctional display with three modes: base, trip computer and tyre pressure.

The main driving controls are all mounted on the steering wheel too.

The dynamic driving buttons are on the right (activate/deactivate Sport and CST) and the display buttons are on the left. The cabin’s functionality is highlighted by the use of great swathes of beautifully crafted leather which is hand-stitched and discreetly but incredibly comfortably padded.

The same leather used for the seats is also used for the door pockets handles, and knee rests too.This is an exclusive, sporty cabin in which comfort is assured by the climate control and audio systems. The former is dual-zone and automatically regulates in-car temperature, humidity and ventilation levels.

Aluminium controls on the central console allow both driver and front passenger to set the air flow strengths and desired temperature (17 to 27 °C). The vent clusters (on the dash, doors and central tunnel) guarantee excellent comfort levels to all of the occupants.

The sound system includes radio, CD player (a compartment on the dash holds four CDs while a further six are contained in the CD loader in the boot) and a six-channel digital unit, developed especially for the 612 Scaglietti by Bose®. Cutting edge in the automobile sector, the system offers the same kind of audio quality of a top flight home entertainment centre.

The system boasts three tweeters on the dash, two woofers and two tweeters on the sides of the rear seats, one amplified 100 W bass box in the front and one 100 W amplified subwoofer (diameter 250 mm) at head-level. A microphone in the roof lamp controls the Audio Pilot™ which automatically equalises the sound if it senses other background noise or disturbance.

Other features offered as standard with the 612 Scaglietti include: a dusk sensor switch which automatically turns on the headlights when activated, a rain sensor for automatic windscreen wiper actioning; an antitheft system with alarm (the immobiliser is controlled by inserting the key which has an inbuilt transponder).

The luggage compartment is bigger too: 240 litres as opposed to the 456M’s 190 and the spare tyre cubby hole can be used for extra luggage too.

Safety

Naturally enough, safety is an integral part of the design. In fact, our priority with the structural capacity of the 612 Scaglietti has always been occupant protection in the case of a collision. Unprecedented levels of robustness have been achieved with the new Ferrari’s chassis and bodywork which actually significantly exceed current international standards and cover many collision configurations which have yet to be applied.

Frontal impact crash tests were performed in line with the new offset standard with a deformable barrier at 64 km/h (8 km/h faster than the current standard). In this case, deformation of the cabin and steering wheel intrusion were very slight. The rear impact tests were performed at 80 km/h (30 km/h faster) with equally positive results. The standards we applied will not come into force in the United States for at least another four years.

Particular attention was also focused on side impacts. The specially dimensioned structure of the doors, A and C-posts, are 50% more resistant to cabin intrusion in addition to the fact that the collapsibility and energy absorption of the interior trim has been optimised. The 612 Scaglietti thus offers exceptionally high occupant protection even without the use of side air bags.

However, occupant protection is completed by the adoption of highly innovative restraint systems. The two-stage front airbags automatically adapt their inflation rate to the severity of the collision and are designed to offer optimal protection even when the occupants are not in the correct position. Special sensors in the engine compartment use specific parameters to recognise a violent deceleration signalling that a collision may be about to happen and thus "alert" the airbag system. Last but not least, the 612 Scaglietti offers highly adaptable seat belts with pretensioners and load limiters as well as Isofix on the rear seats so that child seats can be used in perfect safety.

Needless to say, the 612 Scaglietti offers an exceptionally high standard of active safety. Thanks, of course to its unparalleled chassis characteristics, architecture, and sophisticated suspension, stability, traction control and braking systems.