Since the Italian manufacturer introduced the cheapest Ferrari you could buy back in 2008, the front-engined, V8, hard-top has been much maligned by enthusiasts for not being a true Ferrari, not being a driver’s car and not being hard or exciting enough.
It’s perhaps with little surprise then that Ferrari has decided to tinker with the next generation California in its development phase to give ‘the baby Ferrari’ the best chance it possibly can at achieving greater sales success. In the minds of Ferrari, and many internet motoring news sites, that shift involves downsizing the engine and going the turbocharged route.
Ever since the next Ferrari California test mule was spotted at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track, rumours spread that the engine in question was a turbocharged unit and that it was not just destined for future Maserati models, but in fact for Ferrari’s own tin-top, grand tourer as well.
Rumours suggest the engine in question may be the 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V8 unit, which has been confirmed for the new Maserati Quattroporte. This being Ferrari however, it most certainly won’t be identical, with the capacity potentially changing.
The basis for this conjecture comes from the Ferrari California test mule that has a bonnet which is slightly higher, presumably to house an intercooler, and has an altered bonnet scoop for better induction, compared with that of the current generation California. More importantly, witnesses reported the distinctive hissing of turbochargers hiding underneath the bonnet.
Maranello does currently manufacture two twin-turbocharged engines in the form of the 3.0-litre V6 and 3.8-litre V8 for the sixth-generation Maserati Quattroporte. The biggest engine you’ll find in the Maserati Quattroporte makes 390 kW and 700 Nm, and easily matches the power output of the normally aspirated 4.3-litre V8, but with significantly more torque thrown into the equation.
Downsizing and turbocharging also makes it much easier to increase the performance, while simultaneously lowering fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. More information will be revealed closer to the car’s debut, which should be sometime in 2014.
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