Why Ferrari has brought back the GTS after 50 years

These days, Ferrari model line-ups are fairly predictable. For example, most of us would’ve put money on the F8 Spider, revealed today (Monday), arriving as the drop-top sibling of the F8 Tributo and successor to the 488 Spider.

But the Italian firm is still capable of pulling the covers off something unexpected, and it did that with another drop-top unveiled today: the 812 GTS. This surprise element already means the firm has achieved one of its three key goals: unpredictability.

Commercial and marketing chief Enrico Galliera said: “We don’t want to be predictable. We want to create this so-called wow effect.”

A 211mph, 780bhp drop-top certainly has a ‘wow effect’ – but the 812 GTS car wasn’t just created to be unpredictable. It’s Ferrari’s first production-series V12 spider since the 365 GTS Daytona, launched 50 years ago. Why was there such a long hiatus, and why bring it back now?

There’s two main reasons, say Ferrari bosses. Firstly, demand.

Galliera said: “There’s been 50 years between the 365 Daytona and the 812 GTS. We’ve had some similar concepts but they were limited series, just for a limited number of clients, and today we are coming with a range car.

“This car won’t be limited and there is one simple reason behind that. You can imagine after 50 years how many clients want to have a V12 spider and, if it were limited, our phone would be ringing every single day.”

The second reason is a base design that leant itself to an open-air version. “The 812 Superfast was the perfect car from which to derive a spider version which is not only high-performance but also absolutely beautiful,” added Galliera. “The rear was very compatible and we could achieve a very nice result in terms of design.”

Ferrari will only benefit from having another variant at the upper end of its range; it ties neatly with its strategy to find growth at this higher price point. The GTS will be 11% more expensive than its berlinetta sibling.

It seems like a flawless plan from Ferrari, so long as the 812 GTS can deliver everything we expect from the Prancing Horse from behind the wheel.

And for car fans, unpredictable is good. There’s still another Ferrari model to be revealed this year: will it be even more unpredictable and even more exciting than this one? Let’s hope so.