Ferrari boss says V-6 engine to be reintroduced

With ever-tightening emission regulations and climbing fuel economy mandates, low volume manufacturers like Ferrari are scrambling to produce cleaner, more fuel efficient cars. Ferrari’s chairman, Luca di Montezemolo, confirmed that the legendary marque will be bringing back a V6 engine option for cars like the California.

Autocar asked Montezemolo about the possibility of a V6-powered Ferrari and he replied, “An engine smaller than a V8? Why not?” Six-cylinder engines are not foreign to the brand, just unexplored in recent years as the company has predominantly moved towards bigger V8, V10, V12 power plants. Montezemolo did add any move towards increased efficiency will not spoil the brand’s amazing heritage.

Ferrari is no stranger to V6 power plants, and supplied 2.0 liter V6 motors to Fiat for the Dino from 1966 to 1969. In 1969, Ferrari changed to a 2.4 liter V6, which was used in the Fiat Dino, the Dino 246 and the legendary Lancia Stratos. In racing trim, power output was 280 horsepower for a normally aspirated Stratos. Turbocharging was allowed in Group 5 competition, and some Stratos race cars made as much as 560 horsepower. Briefly, as reliability proved to be an issue when running massive amounts of boost.

Already the company has begun to employ some technological tools to keep power up while reducing fuel consumption. The California, for example, uses the company’s first direct-injection engine and as Ferrari moves forward with the next generation of engines, focusing on the development period from 2013 to 2016, there’s also the possibility of using a turbocharger or other forced-induction methods to strike a balance between power and economy.

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Source: ridelust.com, green.autoblog.com and motorauthority.com

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