New Ferrari 296 GTB - does it have what it takes to be the classic of the future?
Yesterday, Ferrari presented the new 296 GTB. It has "only" six cylinders in a V-120 configuration, but a hybrid component and a total system output of 830 hp thanks to the turbocharger. The electric motor delivers 167 hp of this. As a plug-in hybrid, the Ferrari can also drive purely electrically, but it is unlikely to get too far on the small battery, which stores 7.45 kWh. But it should easily be enough for a trip out of the neighborhood.
Does this new Ferrari, which some see as the successor to the Dino 246 GT, have what it takes to become the classic of the future?
There is certainly no shortage of quotes from the past (in the Ferrari press release):
"The very first V6 from Ferrari had a 65° architecture and was first used in 1957 in the 1500 cc single-seater Dino 156 F2. Larger displacement versions followed in 1958 in the front-engined sports prototypes - the 196 S and the 296 S - and in F1 cars such as the 246 F1, in which Mike Hawthorn won the F1 drivers' title in the same year.
The first Ferrari with a V6 mid-engine was the 246 SP in 1961, which won the Targa Florio in the same year and in 1962, among others. Also in 1961, Ferrari secured the first constructors' title in Formula 1 with the 156 F1, which was powered by a 120° V6 engine. Ferrari first installed turbochargers between the cylinder banks of an engine in 1981 with the 126 CK and in 1982 with the 126 C2, which was the first car with a turbocharger to win the constructors' world championship title in Formula 1. A second title followed in 1983 with the 126 C3. And since 2014, the V6 turbo-hybrid architecture has been used in all Formula 1 single-seaters."
However, it is probably not a new Dino, as it was intended as an affordable entry-level model. At around EUR 270,000, the 296 GTB can't really take on this role. We remember that a Dino 246 GT was priced at 911 level and not twice as expensive as the rear-engined Zuffenhausen model.
Visually, however, the new model is a pleasure to look at, the ingredients are right. An open-top version will probably follow one day and a lightweight version with even better driving dynamics called the Assetto Fiorano has already been announced as an accessory package worth the equivalent of a new VW Golf.
Ferrari seems to have done its homework. Whether the 296 GTB has what it takes to become a classic will only become clear when the complex technology can also be mastered in the long term and the driving pleasure matches the exterior, which Ferrari sees as being based on the 250 LM ...
We have put together some pictures of the Ferrari 296 GTB in a gallery .
