Ferrari explains why its latest supercar has a V6

Quite expectedly, many Ferrari fans were surprised when the Italian sports car maker launched its next flagship – the F80 – with a meager six-pot under the hood instead of the traditional V12. Here’s what the Prancing Horse has to say on the matter.

According to Enrico Galliera, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer at Ferrari, the company had indeed spent a while trying to justify a twelve-cylinder engine for the F80. In the end, however, it concluded that a simpler 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 would be the best fit in terms of power-to-weight ratio.

Ferrari Design Director Flavio Manzoni seems to have a different opinion on this. Speaking in an interview half a year ago, he admitted that the company chose a naturally aspirated V12 for the 12Cilindri model because a turbocharged engine “could never deliver the same emotions.”