Ferrari’s successor to the F360, the F430, grabbed the spotlight at the Paris Motor Show. Although it shares some design cues with the love-it-or-hate-it 612 Scaglietti, Ferrari’s entry-level offering is true to the spirit of the F360 and packed with F1-sourced gizmos.

Ferrari’s successor to the F360, the F430, grabbed the spotlight at the Paris Motor Show. Although it shares some design cues with the love-it-or-hate-it 612 Scaglietti, Ferrari’s entry-level offering is true to the spirit of the F360 and packed with F1-sourced gizmos.


CARtoday.com last month published sketches of the F430. It was clear that the new Prancing Horse would have headlamps similar to those of the 612, along with new air intakes, and a pointier front end, flat underbody and large rear diffuser to increase downforce.


As can be seen from these pictures, the F430 is clearly a descendant of the F360, but the detailing is much more dramatic. At the rear, Pininfarina has retained the trademark four round rear lights, but now they look like those on the Scuderia’s Enzo supercar.


The Maranello-based manufacturer on Monday announced that the F430 “signals the arrival of a brand new generation of Ferrari eight-cylinder models” and “offers a series of significant innovations directly derived from the Ferrari F1 single-seaters”.


Such innovations include an electronic differential (E-Diff) and the steering wheel-mounted switch (better known to Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello as "manettino”) that manages the integrated systems governing vehicle dynamics.


The F430 has a kerb weight of 1450 kg and is fitted with a light, compact 4,3-litre 90-degree V8, which produces 360 kW at 8 500 r/min (85 kW per litre) and 465 N.m of torque at 5 250 r/min. Ferrari claim the 430 will accelerate from standstill to 100 km/h in four seconds and reach a top speed of 315 km/h.


The new Ferrari berlinetta will be launched with a paddle-shift operated transmission that can reportedly perform gearshifts in 150 millisecond intervals. Furthermore, owners will also be able to specify their F430s with a carbon-ceramic disc braking system.

Original article from Car