Ferrari art car sells for $2 million

Last month Ferrari announced they would be selling this limited edition 599 GTB Fiorano at auction. With an exterior created by Chinese artist Lu Hao and inspired by Ge Kin porcelain the car did indeed sell at auction, and for a very tidy two million bucks, thanks very much.

The funds will allow students of Tsinghua University’s Department of Automotive Engineering to study at Italy’s Politecnico di Milano University. The sale of the unique 599 GTB and subsequent windfall follows the spirit of Enzo Ferrari, who often supported research projects that helped improve the skills and knowledge of young talents.

All the official guff after the break.

FERRARI 599 SELLS FOR $2 MILLION

A unique Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano was sold last night (3 November 2009) for $2 million to a Chinese car buyer.

Leading Chinese artist, Lu Hao, had taken the Ferrari super car and decorated it with Song Dynasty Ge kiln pottery pattens. Lu Hao blended traditional design elements with Ferrari’s innovative styling to create a truly unique vehicle using a ‘cracked’ glaze pattern which is elegantly coloured, with clearly defined cracks etched at different depths. Only a few hundred pieces of Ge Kiln porcelain exist today, all of which are priceless treasures. The “cracked” glaze pattern has the lustre of jade and is often used to symbolize the qualities of a true gentleman.

Porcelain is one of China’s most distinctive ancient arts which was brought to the West via the Silk Road thousands of years ago. Using Ge Kin porcelain as the inspiration for the one-off version is a perfect complement to Ferrari’s China Limited Edition Model.

Inside the 599, the traditional Ferrari ‘Start’ button the steering wheel is jade encrusted, the unique luggage set is etched with depictions of the Silk Road and the numbers on the rev counter are written in ancient Chinese Xiao Zhuan script.

“I feel extremely honoured to be the first Chinese artist working with Ferrari,” said Lu Hao. “The creative inspiration for this unique model came from those elements of Chinese culture that have profound significance. This work embodies my understanding of the essences of Chinese culture and Ferrari.”

The money raised by the charity auction of the Ferrari 599 China will fund students of Tsinghua University’s Department of Automotive Engineering to study at Italy’s Politecnico di Milano University and to do an internship at Ferrari’s factory. Moreover, it will provide funding for young teachers at the Tsinghua University to participate in educational research at Politecnico di Milano. This project follows the spirit of the company founder, Enzo Ferrari, who invested since the very beginning in supporting research, providing and improving the skills and knowledge of young talents.

“Ferrari is really excited for this initiative which reaches two important goals for us: first of all, as our chairman Mr Luca di Montezemolo always underlines, helping young students to enrich their preparation, as investing in them means investing in the future; on the other hand we celebrate five years of Ferrari in China with such a work of art which represents innovation and tradition, two values that Ferrari and China share,” says Ferrari Asia Pacific, CEO Mr. Marco Mattiacci.