Ferrari reveals 488 Spider ahead of Frankfurt debut

We’ll get our first live glimpse of the 488 Spider this September in Frankfurt, and hopefully an opportunity to see the roof in action before snow starts falling – although much like the U.S. Postal Service, neither rain nor slow nor sleet should stop someone from enjoying a auto like this.

More significantly, maximum torque leaps 163lb ft to 561lb ft, and it’s available from just 3,000rpm compared with the 458’s peak of 6,000rpm. It is also about 55 pounds lighter than the old fabric roof on the last-generation F430 Spider, though the 488 Spider weighs 110 pounds more than the 488 GTB.

Also carried over from the GTB is the new 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 and seven-speed F1 dual-clutch transmission. Top speed will be somewhere in excess of 200 miles per hour. Roof up or down, the 488 will top out at 203mph, yet Ferrari claims 24.7mpg and Carbon dioxide emissions of 260g/km.

The electrically operated rear wind deflector, for example, can be adjusted to one of three positions to make the auto as comfortable as possible when the roof is folded away without detracting from the noise created by the mid-rear-mounted V8, while the back of the vehicle has also had to be modified to make sure the air is channelled into the engine via the flying buttresses and the huge intakes on the engine cover. This is the 488 Spider, a turbocharged folding hardtop convertible from Ferrari. Some of the features include a blown spoiler and an aerodynamic underbody incorporating vortex generators.

Like the outgoing 458 Spider, the new 488 Spider’s spaceframe is composed of a number of materials that ensure the car’s torsional rigidity and beam stiffness remains identical to the fixed-roof model.

Ferrari has a long and illustrious history of developing fast, loud, mid-engined V8, open-top supercars.