Ferrari 458 M spotted, is there a turbo under there?

Wed, 27 Aug 2014

While it's still absolutely beautiful and a performance marvel (especially in Speciale trim), the Ferrari 458 Italia has to keep up with the rapidly evolving world in supercars if it wants to continue its success. Ferrari seems to know that it can't sit back and relax, because we're now seeing a disguised 458 testing for the second time.

Since we first saw it, rumor has emerged that it updated 458, reportedly called 458 M, may follow the lead of the recently revised California by using its turbocharged 3.9-liter V8 engine. The mill makes 553 horsepower and 557 pound-feet in that application, but those numbers clearly won't be enough for the Prancing Horse, because the standard 458 already makes more. Instead, Ferrari is expected to turn things up significantly to produce around 670hp, even more than the already gutsy Speciale.

Of course, to make the big change work, the 458 M must be able to ingest huge quantities of cool air to feed those turbos, and the camouflage on this test car is likely hiding the body changes to make that possible. Ferrari does a great job here of disguising things up front on this prototype, making it frustratingly hard to spot any changes.

However, there's much more to notice in profile and at the rear. The tape seams of the camo make it appear that there are some alterations along the rear shoulders, which would seem to be a perfect place for new air intakes. Around back, you can also clearly see a different exhaust design than the standard 458's three-outlet layout. This has two pipes nestled fairly deep into the diffuser, which doesn't quite match the design of the Speciale.

The 458 M is reportedly hitting the roads sometime in 2015, possibly with a Geneva Motor Show debut. Until then, feast your eyes on these spy shots.

By Chris Bruce