Autoblog

It is official, at least from the pages of Car magazine: Ferrari's we-aren't-building-a-Dino Dino will appear at the Geneva Auto Show in March of '08. It arose from a stillborn Maserati that was to be a companion to the Granturismo. Maserati couldn't afford to make it, so the project became the Dino.

Internally known as the F149, the Dino will be a comfy, front-engined GT with a retractable hardtop. Car doesn't know what the Dino will look like, and oddly, they wonder if the Freitas exercise is an actual styling buck (don't they read Autoblog?). We just hope it doesn't look like Car's rendering, which is the 'shroomed-out offspring of a 612 and 599 wearing cheesy aftermarket rims. Production is slated for next summer.

The next F430 will be all new, not a continuing evolution of the current body style that began with the 360. It will be smaller, faster, lighter, harder, and come as a hardtop only. Instead of more bore, it will get the small displacement, direct injection, turbocharged V8 that's been rumored. Add to that some active aero, brake energy capture, pushrod suspension, and a ballistic valvetrain. It will bow in 2009 or 2010, for a hefty premium over the F430.

[Source: Car magazine]