Ferrari 812 replacement to be revealed with V12 power on Friday
The as yet unnamed successor is in the final stages of development
Maranello previews its next GT flagship, which is tipped to pack more than 800bhp
Ferrari has previewed a new V12 supercar ahead of a full unveiling on Friday, 3 May.
The new model is expected to be the latest entrant into the brand's flagship grand tourer line, taking up the mantle from the 812 Superfast, which has been in production for seven years.
The Italian marque has posted a piece of archive footage to X, in which its founder Enzo Ferrari celebrates the trademark soundtrack of his 12-cylinder engine.
"One day [celebrated Austrian orchestra conductor] Herbert von Karajan said to me: 'Listening to your 12-cylinder brings forth a harmony that no maestro will ever be able to interpret'," Enzo recalls.
This is followed by a blurred film of the new car accelerating away from the camera, accompanied by an unmistakable 12-cylinder roar. Listen to it below.
As Enzo Ferrari recounted, the V12 is a timeless symphony that transcends replication.#Ferrari pic.twitter.com/FXhhD1jUE4
— Ferrari (@Ferrari) May 2, 2024
Another clip gives a brief look at what appears to be a rear decklid, before confirming the wraps will come off at 1am UK time on Friday morning.
Ferrari is marking its 70th anniversary in the US at this weekend's Miami Grand Prix, so it's likely the new car's reveal will form part of those celebrations.
Spotted on numerous occasions testing in Italy – initially dressed as a Roma but more recently wearing production-spec bodywork – Ferrari’s new grand tourer is set to pack more than 800bhp from the latest iteration of Maranello's atmo 12-pot.
The Italian firm has long been vocal about keeping its 12-cylinder engine alive for its flagship cars, deploying it most recently in the Daytona SP3 supercar and Purosangue SUV, even as it ramps up its electrification initiative with the 296 and SF90 hybrids, and its first pure EV, due in 2025.
Speaking to Autocar previously, Ferrari head of design Flavio Manzoni said: “I personally believe we have to fight for this engine. From a technology point of view, it’s not the most efficient.
"A V8 turbo could make it better in terms of performance. But from an emotional point of view, it’s the best you can have.”
The firm has not given any details of the 812's replacement, but a source at the company recently hinted to Autocar that it will be launched this year: “If you look at the lifetime of the cars gone previously, that will give you a good idea to speculate when we will deliver a new car.”
Ferrari launched the 812 in 2017, with the F12 arriving five years before and the 599 six years before that, suggesting the next instalment in the front-engined V12 GT lineage is due an imminent unveiling.
Heavy camouflage has so far kept the design largely under wraps, although early signs indicate it will be an all-new proposition, rather than a major update of the 812.
Visible cues include new-look headlight designs and reshaped quad-exit exhausts. But Ferrari will no doubt seek to make its GT an obvious relation to the new Purosangue SUV with a similar treatment at the front and rear ends, and muscular, elegant styling that points to its dual billing as a luxury GT that’s engineered to perform on track.
It will share its underpinnings with its front-engined siblings, the Roma and Purosangue, the latter of which is confirmed to receive a hybrid variant, potentially paving the way for its lower-slung sibling to follow suit.
Ferrari has announced no plans to electrify its V12 engine, with the 296 GTB and SF90 hybrids using a V6 and a V8, respectively.
In 2022, the firm outlined plans for 40% of its sales to still be of pure-combustion cars by 2026, falling to 20% by the end of the decade.
But last year, Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna suggested that Ferrari’s ICE cars could remain on sale for several years beyond that if the European Union allows e-fuel-powered cars to continue on sale after 2035.
He hailed the expected exemption for e-fuel-powered cars as “very, very good for us – for us and for the world, I believe – because it gives life to a technology that still has a long way to go. There are many things that can be done in terms of efficiency, in terms of emissions.”
However, Vigna stopped short of detailing what these emissions-reduction measures could be.
It also remains to be seen whether Ferrari intends to make its naturally aspirated V12 more powerful in its next iteration.
The most potent version of the 812 – the track-focused Competizione – produces 819bhp, and the SP3 Daytona supercar ramps that up to 829bhp, making it the firm’s most powerful pure-combustion car yet – but no doubt any boost for the 812’s successor would take it past this point.