New Ferrari F620 GT: Diabolically Boring
Hot off the presses (h/t Jalopnik and GTSpirit), here’s the first photo of the new front-engined V12 flagship from Ferrari, to be named the F620 GT.
The replacement for the outgoing 599 Fiorano will be the most powerful road-going Ferrari ever made, with a staggering output of 740 hp from its 6.3l mill. A RWD car, one can’t help but wonder how just the rear tires will manage to put all that power to the ground effectively. We’ve long reached the point where AWD is practically a necessity for any self-respecting supercar with an engine output north of 600 hp or so, but… That’s a post for another day.
Back to the F620. Design-wise, the car looks like an unfortunate pastiche of styling cues from past and current Ferraris, including the FF’s gaping maw, the 458 Italia’s vertical headlight lenses and even the long-dead 550 Maranello’s bulging rear fenders. Perhaps stung by criticism of the 599 as too avant-garde—specifically with respect to the jerky grille and “flying buttress” C-pillar treatment—Ferrari seems to have penned a very conservative-looking replacement.
Every new Ferrari has a chance to be a design trendsetter, perhaps none more so than their classic front-engine V12 model, and it’s a shame when Ferrari doesn’t seize the opportunity to push the envelope stylistically. Not only that, but if the car looks dated before it’s even rolled out at the Geneva Motor Show in a few weeks, the fact that Ferrari dialed down the design’s edginess doesn’t bode well for its long-term viability in a market so driven by looks and visual impact. With any luck, as with the reveal of the F-117 Nighthawk, the car will look much better in subsequent photos than it does in the initial first grainy snapshot.