2016 Ferrari 488 GTB launched in India at Rs 3.88 crore

Ferrari has been on quite a roll since the 458 came out a few years ago. It was dubbed as one of the most beautiful cars ever made and marked a new chapter in Ferrari’s already illustrious history. But in the midst of ever tightening emission norms, it was time for Ferrari to come up with a 458 replacement that would be kinder to the environment and hence the 488 was born. It’s GTB version was launched today in India with a price tag of Rs 3.88 crore ex-showroom, Delhi.

The mind bending numbers deserve a mention first, the 488 GTB is powered by a newly developed 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 engine dishing out a whopping 670PS of max power at 8,000rpm and 760Nm of peak torque at 3,000rpm. The engine is mated to 7-speed dual clutch F1 derived transmission which ensures almost instantaneous gearshifts and is coupled with Ferrari’s E-Diff technology. As a result the car is said to accelerate from a standstill to 100kmph in three seconds dead. It also claims a top speed of 330kmph. And when you want to stop in a hurry, the carbon ceramic brakes will be more than happy to oblige.

Aesthetically it looks more like an upgraded version of the 458 but even then the visual clues are rather prominent. The headlamps now look sleeker, the air dams and splitter in the front have increased in size whereas the bumper itself takes a more minimalistic approach. The front air intakes split the air flow between the bonnet of the car and feeding air into the radiators. The air intakes on the sides too are split into two, the lower, larger intake feeds the intercooler whereas the one above enhances airflow to the spoiler helping generate more downforce. It also gets a new rear diffuser. Thanks to all these aerodynamic improvements, the car now boasts of an aerodynamic efficiency of 1.67 which is 53% better compared to the Italia. Apart from this the car is built on a lightweight aluminium chassis which has helped Ferrari bring the weight down compared to the Italia despite the car being wider and longer than its predecessor.

With a price tag nudging 4.0 crore the Ferrari competes with the top of the line Porsche 911 turbo and the Lamborghini Huracan. In addition, now that the GTB is here, the Spider will also be launched soon, most ikely by the end of this year.