Ferrari Stands On Principle: No Four-Doors, No V10

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Ferrari Prez Luca De Montezomolo stood up to sportscar peer pressure at the Paris Auto Show, promising never to foist a four-door on the faithful Ferraristi. Automobile reports that when asked about the Rapide/Panamera/Estoque four-door coupe fad tearing through the premium sportscar segment, the Scuderia boss simply wished his competitors “good luck.” Of course if you want a Ferrari engine and achingly good looks, you can always cop a Maserati Quattroporte and laugh as you watch your billionaire buddies try squeeze their kids into the back of their Estamerapide. Anyway, De Montezomolo also told reporters that though Ferrari customers don’t care about fuel efficiency, the firm would draw upon its Formula 1 experience and try to integrate fuel saving innovations. Though the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) might make the leap from F1 to the street, Ferrari will not build a roadgoing version of its V10 racing engine. Ever. After all, someone has to maintain some standards in this age of four-door coupes, Porsche SUVs and V10 Lambos.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Brianmack Brianmack on Oct 03, 2008

    F1's conversion from V10 power to V8 power started during the 2006 season IIRC. Some teams continuted to run V10's in 2006 (Ferrari were among the V8 runners) but the V8's were manditory for 2007 and beyond.

  • DearS DearS on Oct 03, 2008

    I really like the M5, M3 and RS4 sedans. Ferrari is late to the party, hence no partying for them. The 612 is already as heavy as an RS4 and near M5, yet about as powerful as the five. Then we have the RS6, E63, C63, and CTS-V. We have a lot of options. I like for Ferrari to build really good cars. Still the California, 599, and 612? When the hell did they put performance first? I say Ferrari outta build a 4 door or at least lower prices, but again who needs Ferrari? I like them to continue to build better cars I guess, that way the next wave of lower priced sporty cars can raise the bar also. Although they hardly need Ferrari either.

  • Jybt Jybt on Oct 03, 2008

    Just because people don't care about mpg doesn't mean you can make a car that performs worse than a Z06 and gets 8 mpg less. Seriously, no direct injection in a $200,000 car?

  • JEC JEC on Oct 04, 2008

    Funny, Ferrari has gone on record saying they *might* develop hybrid technology and make some attempt to go "green" (bahahaha, sorry, putting Ferrari and green in the same sentence cracks me up everytime). Reject one fad to follow another? Perhaps they will pull a fast one like MB and release a coupe that has four doors. Erm, I mean a four door they claim is a coupe.

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