Star of this week's AutoRAI 2005, Holland's premier motor show, is the new Ferrari Superamerica, which has made its European debut here earlier today.

Its first European appearance, in Amsterdam, comes just over a month since its two back-to-back official 'world premieres', which took place in quick succession, at the Los Angeles, and then the Detroit, Auto Shows, in North America.

At the AutoRAI 2005, the single red Superamerica has been joined on Ferrari's opulent stand by its closed roof sister, the 575 M Maranello, the new F430, which is making its much anticipated Dutch debut, and finally, by the luxurious V12-engined 2+2 'Gran Tourer', the 612 Scaglietti.

Ferrari are keen to showcase this exclusive car in front of as wide an audience as possible, hence its appearance at the first of this year's big European motor shows, in Amsterdam, where this morning, the covers came off. AutoRAI always attracts a large and knowledgeable stream of visitors, and for the Superamerica it is almost a 'warm up' date prior to next month's Geneva Salon, where it will join the F430 Spider on its official debut.

The latest offering from Maranello is based on the highly popular front engined 'Gran Tourer' 575 M Maranello, itself an evolution of the previous 550 Maranello. In the flesh the Superamerica does look very neat and stylish, the exciting new folding roof technology having been successfully incorporated into the car by both Ferrari and Pininfarina's designer's.

Bearing in mind that this is the first Ferrari model to receive this first production-ready generation of the new roof technology, and that the 575 M was not originally engineered with this option in mind, this new method of providing 'wind in the hair' motoring is surely set to provide Ferrari and Maserati a clear way forward for future convertibles.
 

The new system works extremely efficiently. At the touch of a handily-placed button on the centre console, the roof swings upwards and over, to park itself neatly on top of the bootlid, which has been redesigned to allow for a snug fit up against a new raised lip which runs across the car, while on either side, it tucks into the redesigned bodywork which rises upwards, one side bearing the name 'Pininfarina' while the other side offers 'Superamerica'.

The large round actuators demonstrated by Fioravanti on the Vola, have been shrunk down in size, clothed in carbon-fibre finish, and tucked in on either side of the panel, itself edged in carbon fibre, a theme that extends to the securing fastenings as well.

The roof was initially presented by Leonardo Fioravanti on his Alfa Romeo Vola concept at the 2001 Geneva Motor Show, Ferrari and Maserati have both been working hard to develop the idea for production use on their future drop-top models.

It was considered for the Ferrari 430 Spider, while Maserati's next-generation Spyder will incorporate this new technology. We first revealed that Ferrari was trialing the innovative Fioravanti roof concept back in March last year.

The glazed roof section simply folds back along an axis behind the doors so that it can rest on top of the boot. Other than for the obvious reason of maximum luggage space at all times, another advantage of the system lies in its simple and light-weight structure. The system can also be used on a rear mid-engined layout.

The prototype 'Superamerica' with this roof design was first presented secretively to a crowd of potential customers during the Pebble Beach Concours d'Élégance on 12 August. Just 559 of these models are being built, with the majority destined for the North American market. Each will be individually numbered with a plaque mounted on the dashboard, and coincidentally the car at the AutoRAI (which was sold) bears the number 559.