There's an unwritten rule that says every company's flagship model should have the largest combustion engine. But in the case of Ferrari, Maranello's biggest engine isn't in the company's "best" car. The downsizing bug has bitten the new F80, which only has six cylinders. As you can imagine, Ferrari is already defending its decision to halve the cylinder count.
Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer Enrico Galliera told Auto Express that the V-12 was considered but the V-6 proved to be a better option: "We asked the question of whether we were going to use the most iconic engine [the V-12] or the highest performing [the V-6], and decided to take the highest performer. This is something that we have always done with our supercars, to use the most high-performing option available at the time."
This statement contradicts what Chief Design Officer Flavio Manzoni said at the end of last year when he defended the decision to go with a naturally aspirated V-12 for the 812 Superfast's successor: "A V-8 turbo could make it better in terms of performance. But from an emotional point of view, it's the best you can have."
Aside from skipping the big ol' V-12, Ferrari also ruled out a plug-in hybrid or a fully electric powertrain after concluding a hybrid V-6 was the "best technical solution." That tells us the company's inaugural EV coming in 2025 won't be a hypercar. It's been recently spotted as a test mule with a modified Maserati Levante body, so it'll likely be a more practical car, complete with a fake V-8 engine sound.
Cutting six cylinders isn't really a problem, considering that hasn't deterred buyers from lining up and trying to sign their names on the dotted line. All 799 F80s had already been sold well before yesterday's world premiere, despite an exorbitant price tag of €3.6 million. If the ultra-rich want an NA V-12, that's what the 12Cilindri is for, along with other limited-run models that might come for the Icona series after the Monza SP1/SP2 and the Daytona SP3.
Now that the Ferrari F80 and McLaren W1 are out, we're eagerly waiting for the remaining third of the Holy Trinity reboot to break cover. The Porsche 918 Spyder's might not have a combustion engine at all considering the Mission X concept was fully electric. In February, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said a decision about whether to build the car would be taken this year.
