Ferrari investigated bringing back pop-up headlights for its new Ferrari 849 Testarossa, before modern safety and homologation requirements forced its designers to pursue a different solution.
Jason Furtado, one of the 849 Testarossa’s lead designers, told CarExpert the styling team explored whether the distinctive design feature could return, studying Ferrari’s concept and production cars from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
Mr Furtado pointed to a lineage encompassing early-1970s concepts and later road cars including the 512 BB, 288 GTO, F40, and F355 – all of which helped make pop-up headlights one of the most recognisable Ferrari design features of their respective eras.
Ferrari’s designers considered taking a similar approach with the 849 Testarossa, in both coupe and Spider forms, but the idea didn’t survive the requirements of a modern global production car.
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Mr Furtado said the challenge wasn’t limited to complying with one set of rules. The 849 Testarossa must meet the separate safety and road vehicle compliance requirements of every market in which it is sold, including China and the US, and the combined requirements of those individual markets made them unviable for the 849 Testarossa.
The resulting compromise is one of the car’s most distinctive – and divisive – features. Ferrari compressed the fixed headlight modules into the narrow black bridge spanning the entire front-end of the car. Extending the fascia across the nose makes the lights appear slimmer, while creating the impression of an older Ferrari with its pop-up headlights closed.
Ferrari describes the front-end treatment as a deliberate nod to the pop-up headlights of the 288 GTO.
The same bridge-like theme has appeared on the Ferrari 12Cilindri and F80, but on the 849 it also helps establish a full-width aerodynamic graphic above the splitter and body-coloured flicks.
It means Ferrari has referenced pop-up headlights without attempting to reproduce them literally. That approach is indicative of the broader philosophy behind the 849 Testarossa, which isn’t simply a modern remake of the side-straked 1984 Testarossa.
While the name inevitably creates that association, Ferrari’s stated design references lie predominantly in its sports-prototype racers from the 1970s – particularly the 512 S and 512 M.
Mr Furtado said that era marked a major change in Ferrari design. The flowing, voluptuous forms of the 1960s increasingly gave way to boxier, more brutal shapes dictated by aerodynamics, cooling, and the need to package larger intakes. The 849 Testarossa adopts the same philosophy.
Its deeply sculpted doors channel air into the rear of the car, rather than serving as purely decorative surfaces. Ferrari says each door’s complex outer skin is produced from a single aluminium alloy pressing.
Behind the doors, the contrasting vertical black elements incorporate additional air intakes while visually pinching the car’s bodywork in at its waist. Ferrari likens the effect to a corset, making the doors and overall side profile appear shorter and lighter.
The twin tails at the rear draw more directly from the 512 S and 512 M. They aren’t merely styling devices, either. Ferrari says the two passive elements generate 10 per cent of the car’s rear downforce by using the high-energy airflow passing over its rear wheel-arches.
They work alongside an active rear spoiler, which can switch between low-drag and high-downforce positions in less than one second. The result is a car informed by Ferrari’s history, but not constrained by it.
When asked whether upcoming Ferraris would follow the 849 design language more closely, Mr Furtado said the freedom to develop different identities for different cars is one of the strengths of Ferrari’s in-house design operation.
The Daytona SP3, F80, 12Cilindri, and 849 Testarossa don’t share the kind of rigid family resemblance imposed across the lineups of some other automakers. Instead, Ferrari’s designers can draw inspiration from sources as varied as historic race cars, aeronautics, fighter jets, and industrial design.
That freedom inevitably produces cars that take time to understand. Asked how Ferrari’s designers deal with immediate criticism on social media, Mr Furtado said people often change their views after seeing a car in person and understanding the reasons behind its details.
He said the design team largely puts online commentary aside rather than allowing it to push Ferrari towards safer styling.
“I think it’s more important to really set a new trend rather than playing it safe,” Mr Furtado told CarExpert. “We have to make a new desirable object for the imagination.”
The 849 Testarossa replaces the SF90 at the top of Ferrari’s regular production range. Its plug-in hybrid powertrain combines a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 with three electric motors, producing a total system output of 772kW.
Ferrari claims the 849 Testarossa Spider can accelerate from 0-100km/h in less than 2.3 seconds, reach 200km/h in 6.5 seconds, and exceed 330km/h.
The coupe is priced from $932,648 before on-road costs in Australia, while the Spider costs $1,015,589 before on-roads and options.
Australian deliveries of the Spider are expected to commence in the first quarter of 2027, approximately six months after the coupe begins arriving locally.