Ever since Ferrari revealed the Roma last
year as the brand’s new entry-level front-engine coupe, we’ve been expecting
the Portofino to receive its own update. Apparently that time is approaching. Our
spies caught a partially camouflaged Portofino being driven around alongside a
fully camouflaged Roma and the similarities between them were pretty obvious;
gone are the dated headlights of the Portofino in favor of the more modern LED
units of the Roma.
The car you see pictured here could be
either indicative of the Portofino facelift or just a test mule for the already
revealed Ferrari Roma. The same battered test car was spotted back in August
2019, preceding the reveal of the new entry-level Ferrari coupe. The fitment of
the Roma’s headlights is pretty crude as it looks like Ferrari just took out
the old ones and used a lot of duct tape in order to keep the new units in
place. The wrapped front bumper is that of the current Portofino.
This particular Ferrari Portofino test car
is one pretty rough looking example, with the roof panels being a different
color, plenty of scratches and even a sizeable ding on the boot. The rear
bumper also makes use of duct tape where it meets the rear fenders, most likely
to hide the huge panel gaps of this particular example. The facelifted
Portofino is expected to adopt most of the new features of the Roma; this
includes the new interior tech, meaning a digital instrument cluster, the
portrait-style infotainment system and the touch-operated steering controls,
among other.
The twin-turbo 3.9-liter V8 engine is also
expected to match Roma’s power, at 612 HP and 760 Nm of
torque. The powertrain will ditch the old seven-speed dual-clutch transmission
for Ferrari’s latest eight-speed unit. Ferrari is planning to launch 10 new
models within the next four years and one of them is the updated Portofino.
With the Roma launched, the current Ferrari Portofino just looks one generation
behind, so the launch of the updated model shouldn’t be more than just a few
months away.
