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Ferrari Portofino revealed: Goodbye California, hello beautiful

The Ferrari California, in both turbo and non-turbo configurations, has been soldiering on for nearly a decade. With a base price of just over $200,000, it's the brand's entry-level model. Today, the automaker announced the car's replacement, the Ferrari Portofino. This will be the brand's entry-level GT car, slotting in below the top-dog 812 Superfast. It's both lighter and more powerful than the California T while still retaining the convertible hardtop bodystyle. The now-familiar 3.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8 rests under the Portofino's long hood. The engine sends 591 horsepower and 560 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. That's 39 more horsepower and 3 more pound-feet than the California T. A new engine map along with new pistons, connecting rods, intake and exhaust account for the boost. Ferrari's Variable Boost Management system limits torque in certain gears, only sending out what the wheels can handle. Ferrari says the Portofino will hit 62 mph in just 3.5 seconds, pressing along to a top speed of 199 mph. The Portofino makes use of the third generation of Ferrari's electronic rear differential. The car also comes with the F1-Trac traction control system. Combined with the Variable Boost Management, the Portofino should find adequate grip in most situations. A new generation of magnetorheological dampers helps improve ride and handling. Notably, the Portofino moves to electronically assisted power steering, following the same move in the 812 Superfast earlier this year. The car is longer, lower and wider than the outgoing model. The new chassis makes use of modern design and engineering techniques, shaving an unspecified amount of weight from the car. At 3,813 pounds, the California T is a bit of a pig. Any weight savings will be a good thing. Because the V8 sits behind the front axle, the Portofino's weight distribution is 46/54 percent front/rear. As expected, Ferrari has emphasized aerodynamic efficiency when crafting the Portofino's design. Overall, it looks like a slightly smaller 812 Superfast. If you like that car, you'll like the looks of the Portofino. The car is covered with small lips and intakes to help channel air in the most efficient and useful way possible. Look just to the side of the headlights or the deep cut that leads from the front wheels all the way along the door. The rear end does a much better job of hiding the convertible hardtop.

Why the Ferrari Enzo Ferrari debuted in Charlie’s Angels | The Car Stays in the Picture

The irregular series, The Car Stays in the Picture , covers the sometimes bizarre backstories of the real stars of movie favorites: the cars. In our last one, we covered the iconic Porsche 928 from Risky Business. This time, it's a homely hypercar's unusual footnote in history. The inelegantly named, and inelegantly styled, Ferrari Enzo Ferrari was, a technological triumph when it was unveiled in 2002 at the Paris Motor Show. The successor to the equally, but distinctly, unlovely F50, it was Maranello's latest ultra-exclusive supercar. It had a price tag and spec sheet to match: 6-liter V12, 6-speed Formula One-inspired electrohydraulic transmission, 660 hp, $650,000. It was also, at that fateful reveal in the City of Light, fresh off of a plane from Malibu, where it had just touched North American soil for the first time – or at least North American sand. It had been driven on a beach by a bikini-clad Demi Moore, in her star turn as a villain in the second filmic reboot of the 1970s Jigglevision TV show, Charlie's Angels, subtitled, appropriately enough Full Throttle. All of which begs the automotive question we love to ask at The Car Stays in the Picture: How the hell did something like this ever happen? "It was a combination between us having a very strong connection in Hollywood, and knowing the dealer, Giacomo Mattioli of Ferrari of Beverly Hills, that has always been quite prominent, used by a lot of movie directors," says Marco Mattiacci, the vice president of the Ferrari and Maserati brands in North America at the time. "But one of the things we were doing then was trying to find placements for Maserati. And we had to leverage that appeal of Ferrari." The Enzo was thus something of a Trojan Prancing Horse, with the re-launch of Maserati USA hiding inside – a carrot leading not a stick, but a trident, or maybe some slightly less familiar vegetable, like broccoli rabe. "In that movie, there was the Enzo. But there is also a 2002 Maserati Spyder. That was more of the key product placement. We had to place the Maserati," Mattiacci emphasizes.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: The next five years

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, you've no doubt read about all of the big future product news coming out of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles today. We had individual brand reports from Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Maserati and even Ferrari, but in the interest of simplifying and summarizing, we're going to list out the hard facts once more. Of course, with all of this still off in the future, there's still the possibility that a few changes will be made. But as of what we know right now, here's what's coming, and what's going away.
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