Numbers first, because with the Ferrari 488 they are the story: 3902 , 488 GTB & Spider: 670 PS. Ferrari built from 2015 to 2020, as electrification stopped being an experiment and the crossover took every market. Ferrari Styling Centre under Flavio Manzoni drew it.
Where it came from
The Ferrari 488 (Type F142M) is a mid-engine sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari. The car replaced the 458, being the first mid-engine Ferrari to use a turbocharged V8 since the F40. It was succeeded by the Ferrari F8.
The car is powered by a 3.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine, smaller in displacement but generating a higher power output than the 458's naturally aspirated engine. The 488 GTB was named "The Supercar of the Year 2015" by car magazine Top Gear, as well as becoming Motor Trend's 2017 "Best Driver's Car". Jeremy Clarkson announced the 488 Pista as his 2019 Supercar of the Year.
Under the skin
Power comes from 3902 488 GTB & Spider: 670 PS is the published figure. It weighs 3241 lb. Work it out per tonne and you get about 151 horsepower — quick by any era's standard, the kind of figure a hot hatch or a sports saloon posts. It shifts through a 7-speed Magna 7DCL750 dual-clutch. 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.
In context
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Ferrari 458; its successor was the Ferrari F8; assembly was at Maranello, Italy. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Aston Martin Vulcan, the McLaren 570S, the BMW i8 — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Ferrari catalogue sit the 250 GTE and the 328 GTS.