A report in Britain’s Autocar quotes FCA supremo Sergio Marchionne as saying that a return of the Dino nameplate at Ferrari “is not a question of if but when.” The Dino arrived in the late ’60s and early ’70s as a sub-brand named for Enzo’s son, and the cars carried no Ferrari badging; it would this time come back as a full-fledged prancing horse, powered by a mid-mounted, twin-turbo V-6.
Introduced in 1968 as the Dino 206GT, the original was a mid-engine two-seater that featured ultra-sexy bodywork and was powered by a 2.0-liter V-6. The engine was soon upgraded to 2.4 liters in the 246GT, which survived through 1973. The model was replaced in 1974 by the 308GT4, a 2+2, which eventually lost its Dino badge and was thus subsumed fully into the Ferrari family.
Marchionne has stated that he’s not interested in moving Ferrari downmarket, so the new Dino would serve a slightly different purpose this time around. The company needs a V-6 model to help it meet CO2 standards once it’s separated from the larger Fiat group and can no longer count on offsets from Fiat’s small cars. Marchionne has also said that there could be a new, 500-hp Ferrari, but that such a car would not come at a lower price point.
1974 Dino 308 GT4.
So it could be that a V-6 Dino, making around 500 horsepower, would supplant the brand’s current entry-level offering, the front-engine California T convertible. Ferrari, however, has boasted of the California’s success in bringing new buyers to the brand, so it’s also possible that the Dino would sit alongside it as an additional model, priced at around the same $200K as the California, but having a very different mission as an entry-level (for Ferrari) sports car rather than a grand tourer.
That sounds like a pretty appealing proposition to us, particularly if Ferrari can imbue the new Dino with any of the sex appeal of the original.
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