Ferrari debuts plug-in hybrid V6-powered 296 GTB

Friday, 25 June 2021

Ferrari has revealed its first V6-powered sports car since the days of Dino.

Ferrari has revealed a new sports car. That’s usually enough to get people excited but this one has been coming for a while now. It’s the long-rumoured plug-in hybrid V6, but there’s no revival of the Dino badge to go with the six-cylinder engine.

Not that it matters. The new sports car is badged 296 GTB, which stands for its engine (2.9 litres, 6 cylinders) but is also awesome because there was a V6-powered 296 racer in 1958. It didn’t do particularly well, managing a couple of third places, but the link to Ferrari’s past is still cool.

The links continue in the styling, with the new 296 GTB illustrating the 'perfect marriage of simplicity and functionality'. There are big haunches and gaping intakes for the mid-mounted engine, reminiscent of the 250 Testarossa, while an active spoiler takes after the LaFerrari.

The 296 isn’t a revival of the Dino nameplate, but it is technically the first Ferrari-badged car to use a V6.

A “wrap-around” windscreen is aped from the J50 while the digital interior comes from the SF90 Stradale.

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The passenger gets a small digital display that shows speed, gear and revs.

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A high-mounted exhaust outlet and slim rear lights pair well with those thick haunches.

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That interior will look pretty familiar to Ferrari fans, with the same minimalist, digitised approach as the SF90 Stradale. There’s even a digital display for the passenger that reads out engine revs, gear, and current speed, so the driver can get the appropriate grilling for driving too fast.

Mention the SF90, the bigger Ferrari lent its combustion chambers to the new 2.9-litre V6, which is completely unrelated to Maserati’s forthcoming six. So they say.

It’s the first Ferrari engine to have the turbochargers mounted inside the 120-degree vee angle, which provides better packaging, drops weight and lowers the overall centre of gravity. It produces a healthy 488kW, which is a new record for the highest specific output of any production engine at 164.8kW per litre (221 horsepower).

Paired with a single electric motor housed within the eight-speed dual-clutch automatic and a 7.45kWH battery, total system output is a huge 611kW/750Nm.

That’s 81kW more than the F8 Tributo but 30Nm fewer. Still, it’s enough to send the rear-wheel drive 296 GTB to 100kmh in 2.9 seconds, appropriately enough. On track, Ferrari says the 296 can lap its Fiorano circuit 0.5 seconds quicker than the last-gen 488 Pista.

Weight is kept to a trim 1470kg, remarkable for a PHEV, although that’s still 75kg heavier than the McLaren Artura. And, for those interested, electric-only driving range is 24km at speeds up to 135kmh.

Also available is the Assetto Fiorana pack, which adds uprated dampers, lots of carbon fibre and redesigned body panels that drop up to 12kg off the kerb weight.

As for pricing and availability, we’re not sure yet. In any case, Europe gets the 296 GTB in Q1 2022, priced from €269,000 (NZ$454,560), or €302,000 (NZ$510,324) for the track-focused Assetto Fiorano version.