New Dino in 2009! (Jan 07 automobile article)

Just opened my new issue of Automobile and according to the article on page 19 a new Dino is coming.

Saying it's not gonna be called a Ferrari but have the Dino badging instead.

Not Joking.

Front engine eight cylinder 170 grand.

 

2009 Ferrari Dino Is Coming


We've confirmed a top-secret project for a new, entry-level Ferrari to slot below the F430. The car is ambitiously timed for a late 2008 launch (although suppliers expect it to be delayed until early 2009). Officially, company executives scoff at the notion of such a Ferrari, but what if the new Ferrari wasn't, strictly speaking, a Ferrari? Just as was the case with the original Dino (see sidebar), Ferrari's new entry-level model probably will not be adorned with a Ferrari badge.

The car that's set to become the new Dino originally was half of a two-car Maserati program that used a shortened Quattroporte platform. The first is a two-plus-two that debuts at Geneva and will replace the GranSport coupe later in 2007. (The next Maserati Spyder, however, won't arrive until 2010 and is based on new four-wheel-drive components borrowed from the next-generation Alfa Romeo 166 sedan.)

The second car in the program is a smaller, lighter two-seater. And despite the official denials, Ferrari is a logical home for it, particularly when you learn that both cars need to go into production if the $50 million investment is ever to be recovered and that the next F430 (due in 2009) will move up significantly in base price from today's $175,000 to more than $200,000. That makes room for a lower-priced model, and by going the Dino route, there's no danger of diluting the Ferrari brand image.

The Maserati connection would define the car's key ingredients. They include a front-mounted engine, a control-arm suspension with electronic damper control, Brembo brakes with optional carbon-ceramic discs, and a body structure that uses plenty of aluminum and carbon fiber. What powers the new Dino? A high-revving 4.0-liter V-8 rated at 430 hp is a realistic starting point--not bad considering the car's target weight of 3500 pounds.
Priced at about $170,000, this car will be positioned against the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, the Porsche 911 Turbo, and the Audi R8. Boasting a Ferrari-shared V-8, a rear transaxle (like that from the 599GTB), a retractable hard top with an optional glass roof panel, and a steering wheel complete with the manettino drive-mode selector, it has plenty of Ferrari DNA.

It also picks up interesting historical threads. Not only does it resurrect the Dino concept, but it would be the first front-engine, eight-cylinder Ferrari in a half-century. Two sports racers with that configuration--powered by tiny 75-hp, 1.5-liter units--were built in 1940, but they wore Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 badges. Why? Because Enzo Ferrari, who had left Alfa Romeo to found his own company, agreed on a four-year grace period before he would start putting his name on his firm's cars.

 

A front-engined, 3,500 pound, $170,000 Ferrari with 430 HP? Yeah, that sounds like a Dino. NOT.

If Ferrari can't do the Dino right, they shouldn't bother. Just give it to Maserati and be done with it.

If this is true, it is amazingly disappointing. It's not light, it's not (relatively) cheap, and it's not mid-engined. This is no Dino, it's just another Maserati coupe.

Birdman

 

we have heard many things about the next maserati/dino. first the new maserati coupe was seen driving around and then maserati scrapped the car, which then becam the new dino.

i was in modena in february and found the prototype (whether maserati/ferrai/dino) and was allowed to photo the car. it was pretty clear to me that the car was scrapped.

here are a couple of photo's of the prototype that has spawned all of the talk. even though ferrari keeps denying it, fiat heads have said it is a go and so have other people who have worked with pininfarina. regardless of what the car is/named, something is going on. only time will tell.
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I agree with Birdman....what's with the 3500 lbs??? Drop about 1000 lbs...then we have a Dino.

 

it is also a possability that fiat may be doing soemthing with the dino name that doesn't involve ferrari.

 

4 liter, 3500 lbs, front engine, no way they should waste the name. Now 3 liter, 2000 lbs, mid engine, that would be interesting!
John

 

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I agree with the negative comments about the car (as reported on), and would far prefer to see something like John and others described be actually built.

But to be realistic, Ferrari has a bit of a history of re-using historic names for very dissimilar cars. There's certainly no similarity between a 1980's Testarossa, and the original 1950's Testa Rossa, for example.

 

And the original SA was devoid of a stupid roof

 

It is scary to think that an overweight mutated 599 could be named Dino

 

I just knew they would screw it up!

 

I hate how this sounds too. I hope people at Ferrari SpA read Ferrarichat.com...... It would be a great way for them to get the pulse of the market. I think this project could be pulled off well but I just don't like what I have heard thusfar...

 

an interesting article:

http://www.u-ka.cn/en/02/ferrari_dino_reborn.html

 

The "pulse of the market" is absolutely irrelevant at Ferrari. They sell 5,500 new cars a year to a dedicated group of customers numbering several times more than that. If the new Dino becomes a reality (whatever form it takes) they may push their total output up to 10,000 cars a year - still many tens of thousands short of the customers who will gladly buy any new Ferrari regardless of shape, size, price or aesthetics.
I don't think they (Ferrari Spa.) worry too much about Fchat, especially when the population of Fchat is made up largely of people who have never bought a new Ferrari from an authorized dealer.

 

Don't you know where I can find this pics. in high res. ?

 

they are my photos. when i get home, i will try to find the memory card they are on and the res size. i had to downsize them to post on fchat

 

I disagree with you for the most part. That's what this is all about: increasing market share. They are a business. They want to compete directly with Porsche and Astin Martin. Since they are concerned with grabbing market share, why should they not be concerned with how their market feels? Many many many people on here have bought a new Ferrari by the way.....or will in the future. Anyway, why would they not want to see how the public feels about these things if their intention is to pick up market share? ....with a more affordable product to cast a wider net...... And why would Ferrarichat not be a good place to guage public opinion for such an endeavour? I'm sure they spend a lot on marketing already. F-chat is a good barometer for them. I tend to agree with you that they probably don't consider F-chat at all but they should.

 

"Increasing market share" is very relative term here. The total output of Ferrari is a mere pimple on the backside of an elephant as it relates even to small volume manufacturers like Porsche. I honestly believe that it makes zero difference to Ferrari as to what the Fchat community thinks, and for very good reason. The Fchat community does not represent Ferrari's new car buyer for the most part. Ferrari sells fewer than 2,000 new cars per year in the US and around 5,500 new cars a year. The population of Fchat is in the 100's of thousands and many of them don't own even one Ferrari but are simply fans of the brand. Of the members who do own Ferraris, the majority bought them in the secondary market.
I understand the numbers and I understand marketing. Ferrari's primary source of consumer feedback is directly from their new car buyers and they do make a very concerted effort to get feedback from them. That kind of data is very targeted and specific and it comes from a qualified source, meaning that Ferrari knows the customer and also know that they have elected to spend their money directly with Ferrari. Trying to glean opinions from Fchat would be a totaly useless endeavor for the purposes of trying to determine who lies or dislikes something, when the chances that an Fchatter will be a new Ferrari buyer is very small indeed.

 

I agree entirely with you that F-chat makes zero difference to Ferrari. I emphatically disagree with you however that it shouldn't. First of all, F-chat membership is not exclusive to people of the United States. There are people from all over the World on here. F-chat members in comparison to the population as a whole are heavily skewed toward potential future Ferrari ownership/purchasing through Ferrari dealerships all over the World. This population sample from a pinpointed and apropos demographic representing opinions from all over the World can provide valuable information whether Ferrari wants to consider it or not. To think that the opinions from potential Ferrari purchasers/owners/enthusiasts from all over the World is of no use is not something that I will agree with you about. It is irrelevant whether Ferrari agrees with me or not when analyzing whether the notion that F-chat members can provide valuable marketing information or not has merit. Just the opinion of a humble 308 owner/future Ferrari purchaser....

 

You are applying a classic commodity market, mass produced product business model onto Ferrari which is completely inappropriate. Ferrari's corporate value is linked to the value of the Ferrari brand. I haven't read their annual report in the past 1-2 years, but traditionally they make more profit from licensing the brand than from their auto sales. Luca has brilliantly managed the Ferrari brand to grow total profitability without diluting the its value by chasing Porsche. Silver Oak wines (if you are familiar with that market) was a classic example of a firm pissing away profitability and exclusivity by increasing production. You might also study LMVH Group (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) which is a conglomerate of luxury brands which need to be managed MUCH differently that commodity products.

Hope to meet you at a local event!

 

Nerd,

I don't disagree with what you have said. I am not advocating Ferrari producing more vehicles I am just saying that they should listen to their enthusiasts. If Ferrari rolled out a $30K sportscar tomorrow, we would all exhale liquid... Limiting supply is the way to go. I have problems with this Dino project idea as previously stated further back in the thread. A lot of people on here do, that's why I brought up the idea of Ferrari paying attention to this forum. Marketing is perhaps the wrong word - protecting the brand probably means LACK OF marketing to some extent in supply limiting efforts.... See, Ferrari is the one proposing this Dino project.....a car that will be more affordable and heavily produced....why? I'm not sure I like the idea precisely for the reasons you suggest... Not incongruent from that idea of limiting supply, Ferrari should consider opinions and ideas of its enthusiasts and owners (it will probably never give consideration to ideas found within this forum even though it should). Furthermore, a lot of people on here don't like the idea of a more affordable Ferrari....Ferrari should listen to them is all I have been saying!! When Ferrari studied the market for the Enzo and figured that they could sell 400 -- and then decided to make only 399, I aplauded that.... Taking into account people like us might be a smart thing to do. If I were a decision-maker at Ferrari, I would take EVERYTHING into account in an effort to make a more desirable product...demand can be increased by limiting supply AND by making the product more desirable....

I too look forward to meeting you at the local events.

Best,

Ed

 

I think a bit of context is relevant here. If a new Dino is produced it will be priced north of $140k-$150k. To call that "affordable" is laughable. The cheap Ferrari will be more expensive than 98% of volume production vehicles out there and certainly much more expensive than any run-of-the-mill Porsche (including a 911 Turbo), Mercedes, Jaguar or BMW. The new Dino when it comes will actually be the successor to the 3x8 series, with the 430 successor becoming a higher level product designed to compete, if that's even a scenario, with the Gallardo and others in that +$200k range.
If Ferrari had to deliver 10,000 cars in 2008 the ratio of Ferraris to the world's population will probably be about the same as when Ferrari produced 4,000 cars in the middle 1980's. The fact is that with today's emerging Ferrari markets in Asia and Eastern Europe there are way less Ferraris per potential buyer being produced than in years past.
And, yes I'm sorry to have to break the news to you - you are irrelevant to Ferrari in the context of your opinion mattering, as are we all. I really don't take offense at that. I'm just happy to have the opportunity to own these fine and rare automobiles.

 

Ferrari making a less expensive car is for one thing, exploiting a market opportunity..... A car slightly north of $140 - $150 while still very expensive, is accesible to MORE people than the current F430. As has been rumored, the F430 gets more powerful and perhaps more expensive and the Dino covers the lower end of the market but the net is wider in that scenario and not by accident...

I love Ferraris and I have my whole life....and I am not offended that they don't care about what I think either..even though they should. And I too am lucky to have one.....

 

What's in the back of that prototype? Looks like an engine?

Best, Peter