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2016 Ferrari 488 GTB First Drive

After The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa, after recording their first album, Iggy and the Stooges released the brilliant Fun House. Not every second creative attempt has to bomb like The Strokes' second, Room On Fire, and not every new car model has to be heavier and uglier like the Mustang II. Or at least that was the hope as I arrived in Italy for the launch of the 2016 Ferrari 488 GTB (Gran Turismo Berlinetta, if you're wondering). The new car traces its lineage back through 40 years of mid-engined V8 supercars, one that started with the 1975 308 GTB that replaced the V6 Dino series. But the 488 is also the follow-up to the 458 Italia, which is generally considered to be the zenith of all things Ferrari. With sublime handling and a yowling V8 that made you question how fast you could really travel on public roads, the Italia was an Italian missile wrapped in voluptuous aluminum. When the 488 GTB debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March, the portents weren't good. As well as having fewer curves and a turbo engine, trouble was brewing inside the stronghold. Last fall, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) chairmain Sergio Marchionne sacked Ferrari president Luca de Montezemolo. And Marchionne's plan to sell 10 percent of Ferrari on the stock market raises fears of hedge fund guys calling the shots at this archetypal Italian sports car maker. What's more, there's already talk of increasing annual production from the current cap of 7,000 units to 10,000. But back to the 488 GTB. The new car is based on the same aluminum underbody as the 458, but with less dramatic looks. The source of those looks is not the design department, however. "We gave them [the design department] the shape...they started with that shape." explained Matteo Biancalana, Ferrari's aerodynamics chief. So wind tunnel data penned the GTB's lines, mainly because of an ambitious target to achieve 50 percent more downforce than the outgoing model with no increase in aerodynamic drag. "We had to touch every millimetre of the car apart from the carried-over roof," says Biancalana. The front grille channels air through the radiators, cools the brakes and denies air access to the underbody, which consequently develops low pressure areas that suck the car to the road. There's a moveable spoiler under the body at the rear to reduce drag at high speed in a straight line.

Ferrari might bring back the Dino, says Sergio

Dino: It's one of the most evocative, though long-dormant nameplates in automotive history. Coined after Ferrari founder Enzo's son, the badge was on a series of smaller and more affordable mid-engined sports cars produced between 1968 and 1976. And now Ferrari's boss says it could come back on the rump of an all-new Ferrari/Dino model. "It's a when not an if," says Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, majority owner of the Italian sports car maker. "We know that it [Dino] is an under-used resource, but that's why we need to get it right." He agrees that a Dino model could have around 500 horsepower, be smaller and lighter than the mid-engine, V8-powered 488, and could even have a V6 engine just like the original Dinos. Ferrari collaborated on the development of the V6 engine design for Maserati and forthcoming Alfa Romeo models. A future Dino-badged model could share the same mill. "The six-cylinder response has been positive," says the CEO. Just don't go thinking that such a car would be a cheaper Ferrari. Marchionne is adamant that a Dino would not be seen as, or indeed be, a budget Ferrari. But there is the possibility that Dino could be launched as a standalone brand, just as it was at one time in the Seventies. "You don't screw around with the interests of your customers," says Marchionne, admitting he hated the Porsche Boxster model because it was seen as a cheap Porsche. Dino was originally created to compete with Porsche's 911. Enzo reasoned that he didn't want to reduce the price of his more expensive models to compete with the more affordable German sports car. Ferrari could do good business in a lower-priced arena, but Marchionne is clear that he wouldn't chase sales at the expense of the brand. "I would never try to sell another 500 cars at the expense of the Ferrari name," he says. Related Video: Image Credit: Winfried Rothermel / AP Design/Style Ferrari Supercars Sergio Marchionne ferrari dino

First Ferrari 458 Speciale A sells for $900k in Beverly Hills

The prospect of buying a new Ferrari convertible is by no means an affordable one, but prices can vary greatly. The California T, for example, sells for under $200k. The 458 Spider fetches over $250k. The new F60 America is said to have sold out at around ten times that much. But what about the 458 Speciale A?
We may have yet to receive official pricing, but one customer has paid a whopping $900,000 for the privilege of owning the very first one. Ferrari 458 Speciale A #1/499 was auctioned off at Beverly Hills City Hall on the occasion of Ferrari's 60th anniversary in America. The event, where the F60 America was also unveiled, was held in the presence of Fiat chairman John Elkann, Fiat CEO and Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne, Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa and vice-chairman Piero Ferrari.
Proceeds from the sale will benefit the American chapter of Daybreak, an Italian charity that has worked for the past 25 years to cure rare genetic diseases. The high bid tops that which recently won the first Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat - another extreme eight-cylinder performance machine from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles - although the Challenger itself sells for far less than any Ferrari does.