Ferrari goes green--and blue, yellow and white

Pinstripes for the New York Yankees. Gold helmets for Notre Dame football players. And red Ferrari race cars for the Scuderia. Everyone knows the colors worn by their favorite team. Then there's another level of familiarity, a ubiquitous image that transcends sport and culture, such as this iconic trio.

But even the Fighting Irish occasionally wear alternate jerseys, and Ferrari is quick to point out that all of its road-going cars are no longer uniformly red.

Yes, the Prancing Horse sells about 45 percent of its cars in the traditional red. But two-tone color schemes, fortified by a range of choices from across the palette, are becoming increasingly common, Ferrari reports. In fact, more than 10 percent of sales were special-order finishes last year. Even the 2010 hybrid concept based on the 599 GTB was a shade of matte green for its reveal at the Geneva motor show.

Ferrari
Ferrari supercars are offered in a range of colors beyond the familar red.

Intriguingly, Tifosi can also dip into the colors of years past, as Ferrari offers 10 shades from the 1950s and '60s, including a dark-blue hue called Blu Scozia. Ferrari also added Challenge liveries that mimic racing schemes from the company's international competition cars.

For example, the Ferrari 458 Italia can be configured in blue, black, yellow, white and, of course, three shades of red, by U.S. customers. And those are just the basic metallic colors. Nine nonmetallic choices also are available, including more subtle shades of blue and titanium, plus the 10 throwback colors

Ferrari red remains the icon, but the Prancing Horse notes that there are plenty of options now.

By Greg Migliore