Unveiled at the Circuit of the American. Austin. Outside Texas. The Ferrari HC25 is a ghost of what the company used to be. Or what it pretends not to be. It is a one-off. Based on the dead F8 Spider.
It wears F8 skin, sure, but the soul inside? That belongs to another era. A non-hybrid one. A rare thing these days.
Designed for a buyer who prefers their names unprinted. The styling nods to the expensive, complex F80, but where that car is soft and curved, the HC25 is angry geometry. Blockier. Sharper. Flatter sides cut from stone.
Gone are the F8’s massive lighting units. Instead? Slim rectangular eyes. Thin vertical driving lights flanking the edges of the front bumper, defining the line like a scalpel. A shiny black blade on the hood pays tribute to the F80’s design language. Homage or theft? Close enough.
Looking for a new toy? The market is loud. The HC25 is quiet confidence.
Along the sides, a piano-black ribbon slices through the visual noise. It separates front from back. It hides the air intake. The engine needs to breathe, after all, without help from batteries.
The tail? The F8’s exhaust-centric lighting is gone. Replaced by a thin LED strip. Minimalism as flex. Yellow calipers bite against the silver and black body. Stark contrast. No hiding the brakes here.
Inside? It’s boringly practical. Most one-offs keep the donor’s interior layout. This one just dresses it up. Unique trim. Yellow stitching everywhere you can sit or touch. Fabric dominates. Door panels, foot wells, the front of the seats. Leather and Alcantara are secondary guests.
Power? You might expect hybrid magic given the F80 inspiration. Nope. This is standard F8 hardware. Pure combustion. No electric motors to save face.
Sitting behind the passengers is a 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8. 530kW. 770Nm of torque. Sent to the rear wheels via a snappy seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. The numbers haven’t changed just because the car is unique. 0 to 100km/h in 2.9 seconds. Top speed of 340km. Raw speed. Unassisted.
2023 was the year the last mainstream Ferrari V8 without electrification died. The F8 exited. The HC25 stands in its wake. A eulogy made of carbon fiber and metal.
The current mid-engine model? The 296. Plug-in hybrid. 3.0-liter V6.
The upcoming 849 Testarooossa? Plug-in hybrid. 4.0-liter V8.
Everywhere you look, wires follow the pistons. The HC25 refuses.
It asks a simple question: Do you really need a motor to help you drive?
Or is the noise enough?
