Strip the Ferrari 458 back to its specification sheet and the character is already there: 4.5 , 458 Italia & Spider: 570 PS. Ferrari built from 2009 to 2015, in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. Donato Coco at Ferrari Styling Centre in collaboration with Pininfarina drew it.
The background
The Ferrari 458 Italia (Type F142) is an Italian mid-engine sports car produced by Ferrari. The 458 is the successor of the F430, and was first officially unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. It was succeeded by the 488 GTB (Gran Turismo Berlinetta) in 2015.
The engineering
Power comes from 4.5 458 Italia & Spider: 570 PS is the published figure. It weighs 3450 lb. Work it out per tonne and you get about 133 horsepower — brisk everyday performance. It shifts through a 7-speed Getrag 7DCL750 dual-clutch automatic. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 2650 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Ferrari F430; its successor was the Ferrari 488; assembly was at Maranello, Italy. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Lamborghini Aventador, the Aston Martin One-77, the Jaguar C-X75 — show what else the money bought that year. Its Ferrari stablemates include the 250 GTE and the 328 GTS.