The Ferrari 296 GTB has made its full-fledged public debut, fulfilling the Italian automaker’s promise to begin deliveries of their new plug-in hybrid supercar in early 2022. Frankly, not a whole lot of new information has come out since that announcement, nor have their been any noteworthy technical changes now that the car can be more widely appreciated in the flesh.
For that, we can thank Ferrari for being thorough and transparent from the get go; but who wouldn’t want to spill all the beans on what has turned out to be such a game-changing automobile? If they had originally decided to be more coy on their newest model, the hype surrounding the car may have got us anticipating something more extraterrestrial in nature.
But this one is a bit more down to earth, and that’s definitely not a bad thing. Yet, the Ferrari 296 GTB also manages to come off as a bit unorthodox—at least, by Ferrari standards. First off, it’s a plug-in hybrid; only the second Ferrari of its kind. It’s also positioned as Ferrari’s latest entry-level model, despite having up to 830 hp at its disposal. So it’s a bit complicated (also, definitely not a bad thing).
Ok, so we’re not quite nearing Ferrari-at-Toyota-prices levels just yet; but the 296 GTB represents a forward-looking era of Ferrari supercars which more than anything, appears to be (sort of) more accessible, (arguably) more eco-friendly, and (definitely) still crazy fast.
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