Ferrari has announced that it is recalling all 1,248 cars of the 458 Italia model produced up to August (2010). This happens after reports that five of the supercars caught fire because of glue in the wheel arch leaking on to the exhaust - a "blazing" trail of bad press prompting the Italian marque to take action.
The biggest recall in the history of Ferrari comes after pictures and videos were posted on websites, and social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, of Ferrari 458s bursting into flames, in various cities all across the world.
The five reported incidents from July onwards involved cars in California, Paris, Switzerland and China. Ferrari, which is based in Maranello, said the five cars caught fire during “extreme uses in very high temperature”.
Investigations have revealed that some of the 458s were wrongly fitted with glue that could leak on to the exhaust. Ferrari intends to fix those with glue, with metal fasteners instead.
The eight-cylinder 458 Italia, with a top speed of 325km/hour (202mph) was launched at the Frankfurt car show last year and costs €197,000 ($252,600) in Italy, including taxes.
“Designed to fulfil the expectations and ambitions of our most passionate clients, the 458 Italia continues the Ferrari tradition of putting the thrill into driving as a result of track-derived technological innovations,” Ferrari’s website says.
