I noticed that pininfarina did not have any design input into the 488. Why was this? So does this make the 458 the last pininfarina designed ferrari? The 458 is a thing of beauty, I always felt the 488 aesthetically was missing something and I guess that something is pininfarina!
In Dec 2015 Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group purchased Pininfarina, paying $28 million. "Pininfarina has suffered in recent years as automakers began to rely more heavily on in-house design teams. The Ferrari 488GTB was designed without any help from Pininfarina" Sad but true!
And those of us who really like the 488 think absolutely different. I like our spider, but the 488 is to a lot of us a great looking car. To say that just because it was done by PF it will look great, is not true. Get a Hyundai Matrix, and tell me it's a stunning looking thing of beauty. Plenty of beautiful Ferrari's were designed without the help of PF, the 250GT Cali included.
The 458 was an original design. The 488 was designed over the 458. This made for some very obvious design challenges. The 488 is nice looking, but compared to the 458 it's just not there irregardless of who designed it. IMO
The F430 is 100% Pininfarina design, but the 458 was jointly with the Ferrari Style Centre and Pininfarina. And the 488 100% Ferrari Design Centre
The 488 is clearly derivative from the 458, since it's based on the same platform. But much like the 360 is more beautiful than the 430, the same holds true for the 458 and 488.
Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Saw the 488 in person and it's a thing of beauty. Much more cohesive design and masculine to me. Loved it!
yup. they already started transitioning to Ferrari Design Center with 458. I think Ferrari design center has done a great job with the LaF and 488. but it is a bit sad that no more iconic design coming out this legendary company
Agreed, PF was a company on its last legs. I'm not going to be a buyer of a 488 but I actually like its looks and think the spider is way more aggressive and better looking than my old 458 spider. I prefer my new Aperta to both as it's sort of mid-way between.
Hopefully Ferrari's in-house design group will get it together over the next couple of new model designs. 🍀
458 italia / 458 spider and next only the Speciale are the last Pininfarina Ferrari Model . The Speciale aperta is designed by Ferrari style design. The value of these models will increase as very certainly the V8 atmosferic.
I love that badge on the side of my 458. 488 is evolutionary and having inside design group I'm sure will be fine. A lot of talent probably left pin and went to Ferrari.
Speciale does not wear pininfarina badge. It was in house design. 458 Italia/Spider and F12 wear the badge. Pininfarina is out from ferrari coz some important person(s) have passed away in the organization.
It's sad to learn that PF may no longer design cars for Ferrari. Its contribution to Ferrari's success is undeniably symbiotic. I adore PF's talents over the years with Ferrari and other iconic products. As good as the Porsche 911, Nissan GTR, BMW M5, Audi R8 v10, none of these mechanical marvels come even close to the emotional appeal of the 458. It's not a question of price but rather the designer's commitment to an ideal and the ability to create a 'mechanical' beauty in such a way that in its presence our knees go weak and our nipples get hard. That's before we even drive it! I personally think that PF might have contributed to the alternative design motto Lambo subscribes - projection of power instead of beauty. I also think that the 458 (and in some ways the evolutionary replacement, 488), is the most beautiful testament of an automotive ideal.
Why would they leave PF? PF is still very much in business and designing cars. They just don't do Ferraris any more.
