2011 Ferrari 458 Italia
Picture this: You’re stuck in rush hour Mumbai traffic in your Mahindra Scorpio Micro Hybrid with the afternoon summer sun blazing away. You’re only respite is the wonderful air conditioner that the Scorpio comes with apart from the soulful tracks that are playing through the Scorpio’s audio system. Someone suddenly walks by and knocks on your window. You roll down the window and the person asks you to turn off your engine to save fuel as the traffic shows no signs of moving ahead.
2011 Ferrari 458 Italia
You chuckle to yourself. Turn on the start-stop system that your Scorpio already comes with as standard piece of kit and in minutes, you’re left all sweating and soggy. This is precisely why the start stop system is a bad idea, especially in hot as well as cold weather conditions where an air conditioning is an absolute must. But we see more and more manufacturersplonking in start-stop systems in their cars and now, even Ferrari wants to outfit the best selling 458 Italia with one of these to conserve the fast depleting dinosaur remains.
2011 Ferrari 458 Italia
Creditable indeed, but try telling this to someone who is on slow bake in a car during the Indian peak hour and you’ll be rubbished away with nary a compunction. And this should explain why am I’m on rant mode when super car maker Ferrari is actually doing something to save the planet, albeit in it’s own tiny way. The start-stop system apart, the HELE(high emotion, low emission) system that Ferrari has already implemented on it’s California model is a technological marvel that deserves some praise.
2011 Ferrari 458 Italia
It has a bunch of clever stuff that will work in tandem to reduce fuel consumption at all times when your right foot isn’t in stomp down mode. Tail pipe emissions are set to reduce by a fifth with an adaptive transmission that controls that limits access to power in certain driving conditions, a more efficient fuel pump and engine fan. A variable electronic air conditioning compressor will cut the amount of power used by the system by 35 percent, thus saving fuel required to run it.
Overall, the system will make the 458 Italia cleaner and a little greener, of ever an internal combustion engined super car can be called that. The system is scheduled to be showcased at the ongoing 2011 Geneva Motor Show, from where we’ll bring you all the details as and when it is unveiled. Meanwhile, here’s a little video on how exactly the HELE system works on the Ferrari California.
