Ferrari hasn’t traditionally been a company that rolls out an avalanche of fresh products – in the past there’s been a lengthy gap between each new model debut – but 2019 has been a bumper year for the company.
The Maranello-based firm has already released the SF90 Stradale, F8 Tributo, 812 GTS and F8 Spider so far this year, and Thursday saw the reveal of a fifth new addition to the range. The newcomer is a voluptuous coupe, simply dubbed Roma, and its styling inspiration comes from past greats such as the 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso.
Fittingly, given its name, the debutante is being previewed today in Rome. Ferrari’s own flowery prose sums up the connection to the Italian capital city: “With its distinctive flair and style, the car is a contemporary representation of the carefree, pleasurable way of life that characterised Rome in the 1950s and ’60s. The Ferrari Roma offers discerning clients the finesse and refinement that brings the concept of 'la Dolce Vita' right up to date.”
The Roma is expected to land in the Middle East at the end of the first quarter in 2020, and it will sit in the prancing horse’s line-up below the existing GTC4 Lusso T four-seater, and essentially in parallel with the drop-top Portofino. Precise market positioning information isn’t as yet available, but we estimate the car will be priced around the Dh900,000 mark.
This spend gets you a mid-front-engine coupe that’s propelled by Ferrari’s familiar 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8, albeit not in the same feisty state of tune as the F8 Tributo. For this application, which is focused more on brisk grand touring than cutting ultra-fast laps at a racetrack, the turbocharged V8 pushes out 620 horsepower from 5,750 to 7,500 revolutions per minute and 760Nm from 3,000 to 5,750rpm. It can do a 0-100kph split of 3.4 seconds, 0-200 kilometres per hour in 9.3 seconds and top speed of 320kph-plus.
While the Roma’s styling inspiration comes from the past, what’s underneath is cutting-edge, as the twin-turbo V8 is mated to the compact new eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox that debuted in the SF90 Stradale. What’s more, the Roma is said to debut a new modular architecture that forms the template for Ferrari’s future offerings.
Visually, the Roma makes a departure from Ferrari’s existing offerings with design language that seems somewhat Aston Martin-esque at first glance. However, the grille and headlight treatment sets it clearly apart from any Aston, and the relatively large glasshouse also differentiates it from the high-shouldered look of the Vantage and DB11.
The rear three-quarter view is undoubtedly the Roma’s most striking angle, with sharp-edged taillights that are completely at odds with the round lights that have traditionally graced Ferrari rumps. The fastback roof with its curved rear window is also a nice design element.
On paper, the Roma’s rivals could conceivably include the likes of the Mercedes-AMG GT R, Aston Martin DB11 and Bentley Continental GT, but we’ll soon be able to provide more precise market positioning information and technical details.
