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Ferrari North America Imported One F8 Tributo for 2023

2020 ferrari f8 tributo
Just One 2023 Ferrari F8 Tributo Exists in NAJessica Lynn Walker - Car and Driver
  • Ferrari has formally ended production of the F8 Tributo.

  • The drop-top F8 Spider remains in production.

  • A Ferrari spokesperson confirmed to C/D that a lone 2023 F8 coupe was built for Ferrari North America, the arm of the company that covers the United States, Canada, and Latin American markets.

Clarification 3/30/2023: Ferrari North America clarified that it imported a lone F8 Tributo to one of its markets as a 2023 model-year vehicle. It could not speak to other regional arms of the company. It's likely very few other—if any—2023 model-year F8 Tributos were produced for other markets prior to Ferrari shuttering production of the F8 coupe.

Maybe it was a premeditated request. Or maybe it was dumb luck. Whatever the case, the Ferrari North America customer holding the keys to a 2023 Ferrari F8 Tributo owns what's essentially a one-of-one mid-engine Italian sports car. That's according to a Ferrari spokesperson who confirmed to Car and Driver that Ferrari North America imported a single 2023 model year F8 Tributo from Maranello prior to the automaker ending production of the 710-hp coupe.

Emphasis on coupe, as Ferrari continues to produce the drop-top F8 Spider. In other words, the F8 isn't dead yet, even if its hard-top configuration is.

Assuming the buyer of this vehicle did not request any options to notably separate their 2023 F8 Tributo from the typical 2020, 2021, and 2022 models built before it, there's a good chance there's nothing else particularly special about this specific Ferrari. Like earlier F8s, the 2023 model relies on a mid-mounted twin-turbocharged 3.9-liter V-8 engine and seven-speed automated transmission to motivate its rear wheels. It's a combination that's capable of rocketing the F8 Tributo to 60 mph in an estimated 2.7 seconds and on to a claimed top speed of 211 mph.

2020 ferrari f8 tributo
Jessica Lynn Walker - Car and Driver

Yet, in the world of six-figure vehicles, there's something to be said about owning what essentially amounts to a one-of-one vehicle, even if the thing that makes it unique is as simple as the stamping on its VIN plate. It also doesn't hurt that the F8 Tributo marks the end of the V-8 era for Ferrari's entry-level mid-engine coupe.

With production shuttered on the F8 Tributo, the gasoline-electric V-6 296GTB now serves as Ferrari's most affordable mid-engine coupe (affordable being relative, as the 296GTB starts north of $300,000—or more than $150,000 less than the mid-engine 986-hp SF90 Stradale hybrid). With 819 horsepower and a redline of 8500 rpm, the 296GTB offers the power and thrills long associated with the Ferrari brand.

2020 ferrari f8 tributo interior
Ferrari

Even so, there's a simplicity and sound to the strictly gas-powered eight-cylinder F8 Tributo the partly battery-powered six-cylinder 296GTB simply lacks. This doesn't make the 296 worse than the F8 that came before it, but it does make it different.

It's one thing to own the only 2023 F8 Tributo imported by Ferrari North America. It's another to hold title to what's essentially the last entry-level mid-engine Ferrari coupe to forgo an electric drive motor and rely entirely on an internal-combustion engine—a V-8 one at that—for motivation.

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