Browsing through Autocar’s extensive list of Geneva motor show coverage already live on our site this evening, I noticed we are approaching our 100th story about a new car at the event – and this more than 36 hours before the show even opens.

Yet come 11am on Tuesday, when the Ferrari press conference ends and the covers are removed from the new Ferrari Enzo, there is only one car that is going to open every conversation. Forum posters below may prove me wrong, but even the most cynical car fan will surely see its arrival as a landmark moment in motoring.

Over the years Ferrari may have become rather too good at posturing and demanding more of car fans and customers than perhaps it should (not least when selling its extensive and expensive array of branded gear) but there’s no doubting that it still stands at the top of its particular genre.

Related articles

With the launch of the McLaren P1, the team from Woking may wish to argue differently, as may the hard-working and successful men and women who made the Bugatti Veyron a production reality, but the truth is that Ferrari has an allure all of its own, and even more so when it comes to hypercars.

That said, what’s also abundantly clear is that the likes of Bugatti, and especially McLaren, is driving Ferrari to ever greater heights. It’s no coincidence that the Ferrari 458 and Ferrari F12 have been so good; Ferrari is having to work harder than ever to ensure that its products live up to its reputation. Thus far, all credit to it for delivering.

Will the new Ferrari Enzo live up to that? I don’t doubt it. From the moment the McLaren P1 was declared by its makers to be ‘the best driver’s car in the world’ rather than ‘the fastest’ you could only assume that they knew the Ferrari was going to be unveiled with on-paper numbers that dwarf their own.

Hence, come Tuesday at 11am I suspect that Ferrari will be hands-down winners of the publicity battle with McLaren. It could only be that way, given their respective road car history, and if my hunch about those numbers proves correct. Anything else would rightly be seen as a massive failure for Maranello.

Keep in mind, though, that while dreamers and owners alike may be quite content to pin their colours to the car that makes their friends most jealous, real car enthusiasts should be reserving judgment until the driving impressions have been delivered. 

That’s one verdict that won’t be delivered in Geneva – and the verdict that makes all the battles in the build up irrelevant, as it will ultimately decide who wins this particular war.