Bad news! Ferrari have recently announced that the successor to the awesome 458 Italia will be receiving a turbo-charged engine.
The move has inevitably come about as a result of the increasingly stringent, and frugal emissions regulations placed on car manufacturers by governments and committees around the world. Whilst Ferrari may be seen by 9 year-old boys as being a company that gives the middle-finger to rules regarding what they can and can’t do when it comes to building a car, the fact of the matter is that if they don’t meet new emissions quotas; they may find themselves in a spot of bother.
It is indeed very, very sad that the world will no longer be graced with the presence of the absolutely mental, naturally aspirated V8 that is found in the current 458 Speciale once the updated model is unveiled. But, failure to adopt the industry trends of smaller capacity, turbo-charged engines will see any manufacturer of supercars fall behind competitors not just in terms of sales, but also in terms of performance.
The maths behind the move towards turbo-charging is simple: emission regulations are requiring car manufacturers to reduce the amount of CO2 produced by their cars; the most efficient way to do this is to reduce engine size, and strap on a few turbos. Whilst a company like Ferrari isn’t required to meet the same figures as large scale manufacturers such as Ford or Fiat — because of special small-manufacturer exemptions — if it fails to show a downward trend, they run the risk of having this exemption being pulled.
Not to worry though. While the engine in the 458 successor may lose a bit of the pantomime and panache of the previous models, it is important to remember that Ferrari is not new to the game of turbo-charging. Two of what are the arguably ‘most epic’ models in the company’s history — the F40 and the 288 GTO — both featured twin-turbo charged V8 engines, and both were fire-spitting, road monsters that were crazier than Jim Carrey on LSD. They were fast cars not only by the standards of their time, but by the standards of today as well.
We also shouldn’t forget the fact that the recently released California T also features a turbo-charged V8. It has 560bhp. That is a lot of power in any car, let alone a car that is designed to be a relaxed, comfortable grand tourer. The naturally aspirated engine in the 458 Speciale has already taken the 458 family to over 600bhp. One can only imagine that the replacement turbo-charged V8 that will feature in the 458 replacement will be even higher than that again. A rough estimate might suggest that power will be over and above the 650bhp mark, due to the fact that that is what Mclaren’s new 650S model produces from its turbo-charged V8.
So, while it will be sad to say goodbye to the wild, howling 4.5 litre V8 that currently exists in Ferrari’s 458 family, we can remain safe in the knowledge that the replacement turbo-charged V8 will be just as, if not more wild than the current model. We are talking about the Italians here after all, and Italians don’t really ‘do’ boring.
Simon Davis, June 2014.
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