A beautiful Ferrari California, seen in the Dongzhimen District of the Chinese capital Beijing in May 2012. The Ferrari appeared to be brand new, it was yet without license plates and painted in Ferrari red with darkened windows and silver alloy wheels.
Note the Beijing-Huindai Sonata taxi behind the Ferrari. The character on the traffic sign is 让, ràng. It means “slow down and give way”. Well, the Ferrari is blocking at least a third of the way, so not slowing down is no option here, unless you want to crash into an expensive Italian sports car.
Two fashionable ladies were wasting my photo! One is dressed in pink, carrying a Burberry bag, or a Chinese equivalent. Slightly to the left is a lady pulling a large suitcase, also wearing pink. Further in the background, in the middle, is one of the access points to East Gate Plaza, a large apartment and shopping complex. It was always a nice mess there, with cars going in and out, taxis stopping and going, guards yelling about. Earlier, I met a Maybach 62 there.
The first generation Ferrari California was produced from 2009 until 2014 with an update in 2012. The car that I saw is an original pre-update example. The California was launched on the Chinese car market in 2009. By 2012, it sold for 352.800 yuan. The California was powered by a 4.3-liter naturally aspirated V8 engine with a rated output of 490 hp and 505 Nm. The top speed was 312 km/h and 0-100 took 3.8 seconds. The California sold well in China, and even today many early cars are still around.
Looking over the hard-top convertible roof, we see a FAW-Toyota Land Cruiser with military plates and a Shanghai-Volkswagen Gol. It was a great automotive time in China!