Ferrari’s opts for rear-wheel steering on its latest coupé

As if the Ferrari FF four-seat coupe weren't high-tech enough (what with its four-wheel-drive, twin-clutch gearbox and extra transmission driving the front wheels) Ferrari has decided to add to the technology count with this facelift. Not only is it being rebadged GTC4 Lusso (a classic name from the sixties Ferrari back catalogue and somewhat more satisfying to the tongue than FF), it's also getting rear-wheel-steering.

The 6.3-litre V12 engine is also being upgraded. No sign any hybrid module yet (although that is on the cars for Ferrari’s big engines soon) but power is boosted to 690hp at 8,000rpm while torque rises to 697Nm, 80 per cent of which is available from 1,750rpm. We had been expecting Ferrari to push power for the FF upgrade past the 700hp mark, so falling 10hp short is interesting. Is it merely to avoid stepping on the toes of the more powerful F12 Berlinetta? Or a tacit admission from Ferrari that the horsepower war is over and engaging handling is now the new supercar battleground? Either way, the 0-100kmh sprint still takes a rather brief 3.4secs, while top speed is 340kmh.

Certainly the GTC4 Lusso’s chassis revisions seem to go farther than its engine or bodywork changes. The basic bodyshell is more or less the same as that for the outgoing FF, with just some cosmetic changes to the lights, grille and bumpers. Inside you’ll find a new, slimmer steering wheel and a new, 10.25” touch-screen, which will come with such niceties as Apple CarPlay, although quite why you’d bother listening to podcasts when that V12 is up front is a bit beyond us… There remains useable space for four people.

The new SCM-E suspension system uses electronic dampers to adjust the handling and ride to suit the road below and the drivers’ inputs and now there is active rear-wheel-steering, the second time Ferrari has used the system which debuted on the F12, which will make the car more agile at high speeds, and also a little more manoeuvrable in town and when parking. Yes, Ferrari really is thinking of the practical things with the GTC.

Ferrari says that it has also worked hard to tune the engine’s sound and noise output, saying that it has been tweaked to deliver “powerful and rich in sports driving, harmonious and enveloping in city driving.”

The GTC4 Lusso will make a public debut at the Geneva motor show in March, and order books are already open following a private showing of the car, to selected customers, at an exclusive event at the Villa D’Este on Lake Como.