FERRARI'S FUTURE: F149; Intrigue surrounds new model set for Paris premiere.(News)

Byline: MICHAEL TAYLOR

Despite months of angry denials, sources insist that Ferrari will launch its new entry-level 2+2 coupe before the end of this year.

Word is that the new car, which Ferrari plans to debut at the Paris motor show in October, has a target price less than the F430's $190,000. A name for the new front-engined car is still anyone's guess. California, Dino and Piccolina ("little one'') are possibilities for what is now called the F149 inside Ferrari. Ferrari hasn't even confirmed the car's existence, much less verified its name, and there are no guarantees that it will ever wear a Ferrari badge (the Dino never did), which would make Ferrari's denials technically correct.

Regardless of its moniker, the new car will break two important pieces of new ground for Ferrari, with a direct-fuel- injection engine and a folding steel hardtop roof designed and built by Pininfarina.

Ferrari has tested the F149 in and around the Maranello factory with almost complete immunity from spy photographers, because most have been fooled by its disguise as a Maserati GranTurismo convertible. The F149 will be based on heavily modified GranTurismo architecture, which means the big Maserati coupe has provided the perfect cover for Ferrari's most important debutante.

The new direct-injection engine, codenamed F136Y, will have a capacity of about 4.3 liters but will owe little more than its engine block to the existing F430's high-revving V8. Sources say it will have all-new injection rails, new intakes, new cylinder heads and new valvetrains and will debut a type of throttle body never used before. Direct injection will bring an instant fuel-efficiency increase of between ...