Ferrari 849 Testarossa: A Hybrid Supercar Reborn

The Ferrari 849 Testarossa is the most powerful series-production road car Maranello has ever built, and it arrives carrying a name Ferrari retired more than thirty years ago. Revealed on 9 September 2025 as the replacement for the SF90 Stradale, it pairs a heavily reworked twin-turbo V8 with three electric motors for a combined 1,050 cv.

Reviving the Testarossa badge was the riskiest thing about it. The 1984 original is one of the most recognisable shapes of the twentieth century, and a car wearing that name has to justify it. This guide covers what the Ferrari 849 Testarossa actually is, what changed beneath the surface, and where it sits against the rest of the current hypercar field.

Quick Answer: What Is the Ferrari 849 Testarossa?

The Ferrari 849 Testarossa is a mid-engined plug-in hybrid supercar revealed in September 2025 to replace the SF90 Stradale. A 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 producing 830 cv works with three electric motors adding 220 cv, for 1,050 cv combined — roughly 1,036 horsepower. Ferrari quotes 0–100 km/h in under 2.3 seconds, a top speed above 205 mph, and a Fiorano lap of 1:17.5, a full 1.5 seconds quicker than the SF90 Stradale. A Spider version with a retractable hard top is offered alongside the coupe, and both can be specified with the track-focused Assetto Fiorano package.

Ferrari 849 Testarossa Specifications

Figures are Ferrari own data, published on the official 849 Testarossa model page, with weight and battery details as reported in independent testing.

The Powertrain: A New V8, Not a Carried-Over One

The easy assumption is that the Ferrari 849 Testarossa is an SF90 with more boost and a new badge. It is not. The 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 carries the project code F154FC — the latest evolution of the F154 family rather than a clean-sheet engine — and the internals were reworked rather than retuned.

Ferrari specifies a new block and cylinder heads, lighter camshafts, titanium components, revised cooling and an Inconel exhaust system. The result is 830 cv from the combustion engine alone and a specific output of 208 cv per litre, which is exceptional for a turbocharged road-car V8.

The electric side is arranged as three motors. Two sit on the front axle, providing all-wheel drive and genuine torque vectoring between the front wheels rather than a simple traction aid. The third is an MGU-K derived from Ferrari Formula 1 practice, mounted between engine and gearbox. Together they contribute 220 cv and, more usefully, fill the torque gap while the turbochargers spool.

Ferrari 849 Testarossa vs SF90 Stradale

The SF90 Stradale was itself a landmark, so the comparison is the fairest way to judge whether the new car earns its name.

A second and a half around Fiorano is a very large margin between two cars separated by 49 horsepower. Most of it comes from chassis and aerodynamic work rather than engine output, which is the more interesting story.

Design: Why It Looks Nothing Like the 1984 Car

Anyone expecting side strakes will be disappointed, and that is deliberate. Ferrari drew the Ferrari 849 Testarossa from its 1970s sports prototypes rather than from the 1984 road car, which is why the proportions read as competition-derived rather than nostalgic.

The signature element is the twin-tail rear deck: two raised buttresses flanking a recessed centre section, a shape lifted directly from endurance racing practice. The nose is low and flat with slim horizontal lighting, and the flanks are dominated by functional intakes feeding the powertrain and brakes rather than by decoration.

It is a considered decision. Copying the strakes would have produced pastiche; referencing the era that produced the original name gives the car its own identity. For how that logic fits the wider arc of the segment, our guide to exotic car design from the 1980s to today traces the same shift from styling-led to aerodynamics-led shapes.

The Original Testarossa, and What the Name Carries

To understand why the Ferrari 849 Testarossa attracted so much scrutiny, it helps to know what the badge actually meant. The original ran from 1984 to 1991, and with its 512 TR and F512 M successors accounted for close to ten thousand cars, which made it one of the most numerous Ferrari flagships ever built.

Underneath sat a 4.9-litre Tipo F113 flat-12 producing 390 PS at 6,300 rpm. Pininfarina handled the body under Leonardo Fioravanti, and the strakes that define it were a regulatory solution turned into a signature: several markets prohibited large open intakes, so the slats that fed the side-mounted radiators became the most recognisable detail on any car of the decade.

The name itself is older still. Testa Rossa means red head in Italian, and it refers to the red-painted cam covers Ferrari first used on the four-cylinder 500 TR of 1956; the V12 250 Testa Rossa followed a year later. So the badge on the Ferrari 849 Testarossa is a second-generation revival rather than a first, which is a useful thing to remember before judging it against a poster.

Values for good original cars have climbed steadily as the 1980s generation of buyers reached peak spending power, following the pattern set out in our guide to what actually drives appreciation. Documentation and originality separate examples far more than mileage does.

Aerodynamics and the Assetto Fiorano Package

Aerodynamics is where the lap time was found. In its most aggressive configuration the Ferrari 849 Testarossa generates 415 kg of downforce at 250 km/h, and the optional Assetto Fiorano package is what unlocks it.

• Active twin-wing configuration adding roughly 100 kg of downforce over the standard car.
• Weight reduction of around 30 kg through lighter components, taking dry weight to approximately 1,570 kg.
• Track-focused suspension and chassis calibration.

Assetto Fiorano is a meaningful option rather than a cosmetic one, and it is priced accordingly at around £42,000 in the United Kingdom. Whether it is worth specifying depends entirely on whether the car will see circuit use; on the road, the standard aerodynamic package is more than sufficient.

Chassis and Electronics

The least visible changes matter most here. Ferrari fitted springs around 35 percent lighter than the SF90 Stradale and claims a 3 percent increase in lateral grip, both managed by a new control system called the Ferrari Integrated Vehicle Estimator.

FIVE builds a real-time picture of what the car is doing — slip, load, attitude — and feeds every other system from that single model rather than letting each intervene on its own reading. It is the same philosophical direction the whole segment is moving in, and it is why modern cars of this output are approachable in a way their predecessors were not.

Reviewers have consistently noted the dual character. Top Gear and others describe a car that laps hard and then returns to town in near silence on battery, which is the practical argument for the hybrid layout rather than the marketing one.

The Ferrari 849 Testarossa Spider

The Spider arrived alongside the coupe rather than after it. Its retractable hard top folds in 14 seconds and will operate at speeds up to 45 km/h, so the decision to open it does not require stopping.

Ferrari claims the best power-to-weight ratio of any spider it has built, and the performance figures are quoted identically to the coupe at under 2.3 seconds to 100 km/h. Historically the open version of a Ferrari flagship has carried a weight penalty and a small dynamic compromise; on paper this one carries less of both than usual.

Price and Availability

Production began in mid-2026. Published United Kingdom pricing puts the coupe at roughly £407,600 and the Spider at about £442,500, with Assetto Fiorano adding around £42,100 on top.

Two practical notes for buyers. First, prices vary considerably by market once taxes and duties are applied, so treat any single figure as indicative rather than universal. Second, allocation matters more than list price on a car like this — Ferrari flagships are allocated to established clients, and the practical route in for most buyers is the used market a few years from now. Our guide to what drives exotic car values covers how flagship Ferraris have behaved once that happens.

Where It Sits in the Current Field

The Ferrari 849 Testarossa is a series-production car, which places it below the limited-run halo models but above everything else on the road.

Against the Revuelto, its closest series-production rival, the Ferrari 849 Testarossa trades two cylinders for roughly 35 more horsepower and a very different character. Against the limited-run cars it gives up output but is a car you can actually order.

What the Spec Sheet Does Not Capture

Three things about the Ferrari 849 Testarossa matter more in practice than any figure in the table above.

• The torque fill changes how it drives, not just how fast it is. The electric motors erase the pause between throttle and boost, so the car responds like a large naturally aspirated engine while retaining turbocharged output. That is the real argument for the hybrid layout.
• Front-axle torque vectoring is a cornering tool, not a traction aid. Two independent motors can add drive to the outside front wheel mid-corner, which changes the line the car takes rather than simply preventing wheelspin.
• It is genuinely usable. Reviewers consistently describe circuit work followed by silent electric running through town in the same afternoon. A decade ago that combination did not exist at this output.

None of that shows up in a 0 to 100 time, and all of it is why the Ferrari 849 Testarossa reads as a step forward rather than a bigger number.

Buying One: Allocation, Options and Running Costs

Ordering a Ferrari 849 Testarossa is less a transaction than a relationship. Flagship allocations go to clients with purchase history, so first-time buyers are realistically looking at the secondary market rather than a factory order.

• Specification drives resale more than colour does. Assetto Fiorano, carbon wheels and the more extreme interior trims tend to hold interest; unusual paint choices narrow the buyer pool later.
• Hybrid systems add service considerations. High-voltage components, battery health and software support are now genuine diligence items on any car of this type, not just on electrics.
• Insurance is quoted per car, not per model. A 1,036 hp all-wheel-drive Ferrari is rated accordingly, and the spread between quotes is wide enough to be worth shopping properly.
• Budget the running costs before the purchase price. Servicing, tyres, storage and the unscheduled bill are what end most ownerships early.

Anyone weighing a Ferrari 849 Testarossa against the rest of the market should start with the arithmetic rather than the configurator. Our financing and insurance guide covers structuring the purchase and why agreed-value coverage matters on cars like this, and how to afford a supercar sets out the routes owners actually use.

Ferrari 849 Testarossa FAQ

Does It Earn the Name?

Reviving a badge as loaded as Testarossa invites a straightforward test: would this car be significant without it? The Ferrari 849 Testarossa would. It is the most powerful series-production car Ferrari has built, it is a second and a half quicker around the company test track than a car that was itself a benchmark, and the engineering underneath is new rather than inherited.

The choice not to imitate the 1984 car is what makes the name work. A set of decorative strakes would have made it a tribute act. Reaching past the road car to the prototypes that gave the era its character produces something that stands on its own and earns the badge by association rather than by costume.

At Exotic Motors we have watched every Ferrari flagship since long before the first Testarossa, and this is a genuinely significant one. See which Ferraris are on the site today to see what is available now, and for daily coverage of new reveals our sister publication Exotic Car News follows the market as it happens.