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How the Ferrari 296 GTB Rewrote the Berlinetta Formula

A twin-turbo V6 and an electric motor combine for 819 hp in Ferrari's first six-cylinder road car in decades. The 296 GTB's specs, range, and why it marks a turning point.

The Ferrari 296 GTB is the car where Ferrari changed its mind about cylinders. Built since 2022, it marks the marque’s return to a six-cylinder road-car engine and a significant break from its V12 and V8 traditions,[1] drawing on the company’s Formula 1 and hybrid experience.[1] On paper it is heresy. On the road it is one of the fastest Ferraris ever offered to the public.

How 819 hp happens

The heart is a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged 120-degree V6 producing 654 hp, joined by an electric motor adding 165 hp — a combined 819 hp and a power-to-weight ratio of roughly 560 hp per ton.[1] Combined torque peaks at 740 Nm (546 lb-ft).[1] The layout is classic berlinetta — rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive — with an 8-speed dual-clutch transmission, and a 7.45 kWh battery enables about 25 km of electric-only running.[1] Ferrari claims 0–100 km/h in 2.9 seconds and a top speed beyond 330 km/h (205 mph).[1]

The range around it

The GTB coupe anchors a broad family: the retractable-hardtop GTS, the track-oriented Assetto Fiorano package with upgraded suspension and carbon-fibre components, a Speciale line announced in 2025, and competition variants spanning GT3, GT3 Evo, and Challenge.[1] That racing spread is telling — the 296 is Ferrari’s working platform, not a technology showcase kept away from timing sheets.

What it changes

The 296 GTB resolves a question that hung over every electrified supercar: whether hybridization dilutes character or concentrates it. Ferrari’s answer was to use the motor as an amplifier — the V6 and electric drive together producing figures[1] that its pure-combustion predecessors could not reach, in a body no larger for it.

Six cylinders and a battery, 819 hp, and a claimed 2.9 seconds to 100 km/h: the 296 GTB is Ferrari’s proof that the hybrid era subtracts nothing.

Its place in the lineup is therefore pivotal rather than transitional. The mid-engined berlinetta is Ferrari’s core product, and the 296 is the generation that carried it into electrification without apology.[1]

Full specifications and variant details are on the Ferrari 296 GTB database page; to see the market in real time, browse available 296 GTB inventory.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, “Ferrari 296”, wikipedia.org. Tier 2

Draft for editorial review — source links and figures to be verified and the confidence raised before publication.