Ferrari Roma Spider scoops best design award

The open-top Ferrari Roma Spider has won the 2024 best car design accolade from the Red Dot Awards association based in Germany.

The front-mid engine sports car with a retractable soft top was chosen as best of the best in the product design category. The Red Dot, in its 70th year, is an international award in industrial design and the 2024 ceremony will take place on June 24 in Essen, Germany.

The Roma Spider, on sale in South Africa for R6.2m, was unveiled in 2023 as the drop-top version of the Roma coupe grand tourer that debuted in 2021. It is an elegant four seater with a fabric roof that takes 13.5 seconds to open at driving speeds of up to 60km/h. A wind deflector in the rear seat back helps minimise buffeting.

The rear-wheel drive Roma Spider produces outputs of 456kW and 760Nm from a 3.9l V8 twin turbo engine, transmitted via an eight-speed automated dual-clutch transmission. The speedy soft top sprints from 0-100km/h in 3.4 seconds and has a 320km/h top speed, says Ferrari.

Red Dot Awards were also earned by the Ferrari SF90 XX Stradale special limited edition model and the KC23, a futuristic one-off based on the chassis of a racing car.

Under chief design officer Flavio Manzoni, Ferrari is the most successful car manufacturer in the history of the event, winning 29 Red Dot Awards in the past 10 years. Among these were 10 best-of-the-best wins by cars, including the Daytona SP3, 488 GTB and Purosangue.