Green light for Ferrari’s baby GT

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo surprised the crowds at the Geneva motor show by announcing that the Italian company will be launching a new car at the Paris show.The news will be taken as confirmation that Ferrari’s baby GT project, codename “F149” is moving towards production. The car is set to go on sale for similar money to the F430 Scuderia and will give the brand a direct rival to the Aston Martin DB9. Sources within Ferrari have also indicated that the car will be powered by a V8 engine featuring direct injection and will have a folding steel hard-top. That engine should have a capacity of around 4.3 litres, but it will owe little to the F430’s high-revving 4.3 V8, aside from the engine block. Sources say it will have all-new injection rails, new intakes, new heads, new valve trains and it will also debut a type of throttle body never before used on a car. Direct injection will increase fuel efficiency increase by up to eight per cent, and a new gearbox will give further gains.The folding hard-top will make it a Ferrari for all seasons, with Pininfarina designers using the F149 to demonstrate new, lightweight technology with shorter folded roof sections to minimise boot length. This move has meant a close collaboration with Pininfarina, and there is speculation that a large proportion of the car could actually be built at Pininfarina’s plant rather than in Maranello.Regardless of what it is called, the F149 will spearhead the company’s push towards 10,000 cars a year, and will be expected to contribute around 4000 sales a year almost immediately. Ferrari’s current volumes are just over 6000 cars a year.

Michael Taylor/ Mike Duff

Click here to see pics of the baby Ferrari in testing