Ferrari GTC4Lusso T: Take Away Four Cylinders, Get More Hate

A new Ferrari is always a good thing right? Something to be happy and enthusiastic about? Well you’d think so but it turns out some people aren’t too happy about Ferrari’s decision to put a V8 engine in the GTC4Lusso.

Take a deep breath, you can relax. They haven’t killed off the V12 as some interweb comments suggest. It’s not the end of the world. Once all the commotion over Ferrari putting a turbocharged V8 into the front of the GTC4Lusso has settled and all the keyboard warriors have got their trolling out of their system, we can all move on and celebrate another new Ferrari model. Because what we have here is a smart move by Ferrari.

Ferrari say this is the first time they’ve put a V8 engine at the front of one of their four-seater cars. I guess technically the California is a 2+2; 2 humans and 2 shopping bags. More importantly, this becomes their 7th model in their current line-up.

The Ferrari stable now consists of four V8-powered cars, and three V12 cars. The V8 in question is a 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8, from the same breed as the one found in the California T and 488 range. In the GTC4Lusso, this engine produces 610hp/449kW and 760NM of torque. That’s 80hp/58kW less than its V12 sibling but has 63NM more.

Unlike the V12 GTC4Lusso which comes with four-wheel drive, the V8 car sends all its power to the rear-wheels. Still, that’s enough for a 0-100 km/h time of 3.5 seconds, just a tenth shy of the V12 car. The GTC4Lusso T still retains four-wheel steering and is also lighter overall than the V12 GTC4Lusso, with a 46:54 weight balance.

So why is this car worth talking about? Well it’s not exactly the car itself but rather what it means for Ferrari. By having an “entry-level” V8 engined, rear-wheel drive, four-seater car in its range, Ferrari has opened its doors to a whole new kind of buyer that’ll want to use it for daily purposes.

I’m not saying the GTC4Lusso is an impractical car for daily driving. In fact, in Japan many are genuinely used by new and existing Ferrari owners as their daily and family cars. But with the GTC4Lusso T presumably having a lower starting price, customers who wouldn’t have previously considered a Ferrari as a daily before might now get tempted by the larger and more usable GTC4Lusso T compared to the California T.

We should also now all be aware of Ferrari’s policy for picking customers who can buy their special edition cars. So by introducing more ‘entry-level’ models (I know, that’s a weird thing to say about Ferraris but that’s the world we live in now), Ferrari has given people more choices in buying these cars so that they may be considered for the next special edition car.

And that’s where this car makes perfect business sense. Because the more cars Ferrari sells, the more money it’ll have to develop whatever car will succeed the LaFerrari in 10 years or so. I personally can’t find anything wrong about Ferrari’s decision for putting a V8 in the GTC4Lusso as long as the V12 is still being offered alongside it.

It just seems like those who complained about it having a V8 just wanted something to complain about. Which seems pretty stupid considering it’s a V8 that develops 610hp and sends it all to the rear.

Tell us what you think of Ferrari’s decision to offer two engine choices for one model. Is this a smart move to further expand their business and bring in more customers or do you think it’s somehow diluting the brand?