Ferrari’s range of supercars is superb, offering a line-up of quite stunning machines that are exquisitely styled and powered by engines of supreme sophistication. Take a step up the ladder, and you arrive at Ferrari Portfolio Coachbuilding Programme (also known as the Special Projects Division), the specialist division that builds spectacular one-off Ferrari’s for those that can afford it. Indeed, if you have the money, you can commission Ferrari to build a car to your desired specification.
That’s what Cheerag Arya, Indian-born packaging and plastics tycoon, did back in 2012. He asked Ferrari to take the chassis of a 599 GTO – already an exclusive model – and use that car’s 6.0litre V12 to power his unique design, named SP30. He also specified they add a rear end that he liked the look of, that from the 599XX track-only model, and the front lights from a 488 Italia. The hood, which is designed in the manner of that on a Ferrari F12, and wheels are bespoke to the SP30, while the interior is a mix of 599 and 612 OTO – the latter being the unique show car that began the Ferrari one-off programme.
We admit it sounds like a bit of a mess when described as above, but if you check out the pictures it looks rather neat. It’s clearly Ferrari, and clearly not one of the current models, so why is it languishing on sale in a Texas supercar dealer, with seemingly nobody interested?
Expensive and Unique
We believe part of the problem may be the very nature of the car’s uniqueness: it was designed and created for one individual and will always be ‘their’ car. In fact, Arya only put a handful of miles on the clock and it has still driven little more than a hundred miles. There’s also an air of mystery as to whether Arya even took delivery of the car.
He did at one time own 12 Ferrari’s – that we know of – and in 2017, news reports have him fleeing the UAE, where the company he was CEO of was based, with debts that were the biggest ever recorded in the country at the time.
The Ferrari SP30 then appears at the Texas dealership and is subsequently offered for sale by Sotheby’s at its Paris 2019 auction. The listing carried no estimate but did feature the following curios advice: “Estimate Available Upon Request / Buyers from outside the UAE could also expect a further hefty tax bill”. This reference presumably relates to Arya’s sudden departure from the UAE.
A one-off Ferrari is always going to cost a great deal of money, but a one-off Ferrari SP30 with the additional burden of outstanding tax debts in the United Arab Emirates is perhaps a bit too expensive even for the very rich. It may be that this unique and spectacular Ferrari will remain on sale for a very long time. It’s simply too hot to touch.
