Would LOVE to see Ferrari do this...

I don't disagree, but here's a couple of points: 1) electric windows are usually lighter than manual ones and 2) it's hard to build a small light car with today's safety/crash requirements.

 

I think it should have a 2.4 liter six!

And yes, I'd love to see such a car from Ferrari, too.

An unintended side effect would be helping Ferrari's average fuel economy rating; no matter how powerful of an engine you put in it, it doesn't take much of that power to move a sleek, 2000lb car. . .

Lotus does it through lightweight bonded aluminum extrusions for the chassis, light/thin body panels/clamshells, a low number of parts making up the car compared to others with its dimensions, a minimum of accoutrements and adornments, and thorough use of light weight materials and parts throughout the car.

If I were Ferrari, I'd show them up by building the chassis of said small sports car out of carbon fiber rather than aluminum! . . .

 

And to save time and R&D they could source the engines from Toyota and the basic platform from Lotus. At 120K they could sell a pile of them. They already source many parts from other companies, it doesn't seem like too far a stretch.

 

One word. DINO
I think it would sell quite well.

 

don't bother waiting for Ferrari to do that. the percent of clients who truly wants such a car (and can pay for it) wil be minor and is for them really not worh it i think...
answer is really simple; take a manificent base-car (308) and convert it into your standard!!
just have to spend enough time and $$$$
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Uh... Can I get that in red?!??

Aaron

 

By not selling their truly powerful cars in America. The European options are MONSTERS. And while I'd like to see a 'small' but equally nice Ferrari, I wouldn't want it to fall into the Porsche Boxter class range. It would break my heart to see a generic every-man's Ferrari on every corner, as with Porsche.

 

At twice the cost of a Boxster, you won't see one on every corner!

BTW, which Lotus models would you be referring to? Carlton/Omega? Other older models? It seems to me that the U.S. gets equally powered Elise variants as in the U.K. . . . (?)

 

A revertion to Ferrari's old Lotus-like technique of "adding lightness" would be excellent. Add a 3 or 3.5L mid-mounted V12 to the mix and you have something very special. Ferrari needs to appeal to their clients who are not all small built people so unfortunately I doubt we will see this reversion :/

 

The new Europa. Gawd it was incredible! Almost lost my Ferrari Religion for a while there.
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I too have thought about a smaller lighter Ferrari. Today’s “Super Cars” are just that. They…IMO are not “Sports Cars” in the old school traditional sense. Sports Cars used to be stripped down light weight machines of small stature void of power “Goodies” built to tear up the small back roads at red line. They evolved into the modern super cars during the great Ferrari / Lamborghini arms race of the late 80’s early 90’s.

This past weekend at a car show, my 308 was parked next to a 246 Dino. The Dino really is the quintessential “Sports Car”. Smaller then the 308 with a smaller displacement engine, striped down and yet built to be a holy terror on the back roads. Compared to a 360 or 430, the Dino and even the 308 are tiny. They are “Sports Cars” not “Super Cars”.

Back to your Stripped Down Racer…
A true Modern Ferrari “Sports Car” would be a real eye opener for other companies like Lamborghini as well. Building a 350hp small car, even a “Tuner” Ferrari would be an interesting path to walk.

Personally, I have nothing but respect for all the modern Super Cars. From a technical standpoint the gear head in me can’t keep from reading any and all information I can find. But the car OWNER in me wants something entirely different. That part of me wants a SPORTS CAR! Small, powerful, fun, sexy, FERRARI!

I like your idea, could you pitch that at the next Ferrari Board meeting! ;-)

 

Has Ferrari made any lightweight road cars in the past 40 years?

 

I'm thinking a 2.0-2.5 ltr v12 engine that revs to about 10k rpm. Just a nasty engine with about 300 or so hp.

 

Why not start off again where Enzo stopped, release the car as a Dino branded product with a V6 to avoid impacting their V8/V12 Ferrari range.

A small sports car branded as Dino with a high revving V6, got to be a sales winner I would have thought?

 

YEah...why not do it?

They stamp the Maserati name on the big fat 4 doors they make.


Stamp Dino on a sexy V6!

 

This car should be under the Fiat Lancia or Alfa nameplate as a successor to the X1/9

 

I never cared much for Lotus except a moment of weakness during the 80's for the esprit and now I like the concept of the Tesla, when powered with Solar panels. What if Ferrari made a sequal to the 308 like the Mini and the Bug did all carbonfiber hitech everything. Could be cool in a strange way.

Helmut

 

If Ferrari made a lightweight two seater sports car and priced it in the low $100Ks, people would be queued up for it around the block.

Frankly, the 360/F430 aren't small enough to be considered sports cars anymore, as the OP points out. While they are very good cars, I can't accept them as the heirs to the 206/246/308/328 tradition.

Porsche are trying something like this in the $60K range, with the Boxster Spyder -- 200 lbs lighter, ribbon door pulls, true sport seats, no surround sound stereo, no b.s. generally. Clearly Porsche figures it can tap into its history with the 550 Spyder, 356 Speedster, etc. Ferrari has an equally compelling legacy in the 250 GTO, original Mondials, etc.

The way things are going, the real sports car market belongs to Lotus and increasingly Porsche. Ferrari have moved more into the GT and luxury market.

 

Exactly right. Ferrari is, and historically has been, a GT road car company. Porsche and Lotus have a legacy history of performance through lightness which Ferrari does not. For Ferrari to step into the small and light arena would be quite a dramatic change from a company culture standpoit. No doubt the Ferrari engineers could produce a phenomenal product however!

Board room management often looks at these types of possibilities from a "brand management" standpoint. In other words, it makes no sense to de-value a premium GT brand with addition of a stripped down uber-licht model. The profit margins are smaller on the lower-priced models, plus, if offering a low-price Ferrari steals sales from the higher priced models (which it would like do) then it doesn't make sense from an economic standpoint either.

From what I've read, the reason the orignal 246 was branded a "Dino" was to avoid watering down the premium V12 GT brand health of Ferrari at the time, although internally it was considered very much a proper Ferrari. Enzo wouldn't have put his beloved son's name on the car unless he considered it very special (but obviously different than the then-current V12 models available).

That's not to say that Ferrari isn't concentrating upon lightness as an area of improvement in the current and upcoming model line up - they are most definitely. They're hoping to achieve better performance numbers and better fuel mileage numbers via improvements in weight v. simply adding more hp/tq. Luca M has indicated this publicly many times over the last couple years. But don't expect any kind of Porsche boxster comparable product from Ferrari....

 

I'd like to see Ferrari take the 308/328 body and put it on a car that was thoroughly modern in all other aspects.

 

That's something I could get my head around!