Dear 001,
On a recent trip to Modena, Italy - Ferrariville, I discovered how disgruntled Enzo buyers may have made Ferrari seek an alternative engine for new 360 replacement.
It appears that both costs of development of the existing 360 engine and the need to avoid upsetting buyers of the mega-bucks Enzo super-car has forced Ferrari to look to it's sister company Maserati for a new engine to upgrade the motor in the face-lifted 360 Modena.
Maserati already has a fine V8 in its 3200 series coupe and Ferrari engineers have been developing it as a replacement to the existing engine. After techies have finished, the Maserati V8 will gain a flat-plane (F1 style) crankshaft, more capacity (4.3-litres), remodeled cylinder heads and improved engine management systems to give the unit some 475-bhp at 9000-rpm.
Ferrari is going down this route for three reasons, firstly - the existing engine will NOT meet EU and CA emissions even if God himself helped out. Secondly, the basic Maserati engine is as powerful as the 360's and DOES meet emissions. Thirdly, it is more expandable (up to 4.7-litres) and has more potential.
After talking to some dealers in Europe, I think this action has been forced on Ferrari in its attempts to out-gun Porsche, as Maranello sees the companies beefier 911's as a thorn in its side and a threat to sales.
Iggy