New Ferrari Roma Spider means GOODBYE to the Ferrari Portofino M

The arrival of the new Ferrari Roma Spider last week – Ferrari’s first soft-top since the 1960s – means the end of the road for the Ferrari Portofino M.

Fifteen years ago, Ferrari decided they needed a new entry-level car to entice buyers away from cars like high-end Mercedes SLs so, for the first time since the Dino, they came up with a car designed to tempt buyers from mere ‘Premium’ brands into a thoroughbred.

That car was the Ferrari California, and although hardly cheap (it cost £143k) it did herald a new entry point for the brand with a 2+2 front-engined Ferrari with a folding hard top.

It got a bit of a tweak in 2012 and, in 2014, was replaced by the California T with a new 3.8-litre twin turbo with 552bhp, and in 2017 it morphed in to the Ferrari Portofino with new looks and a power boost to 592bhp which then became the Portofino M in 2020 with another power boost to 612bhp.

But now, with the arrival of the new soft-top Ferrari Roma Spider, Ferrari has confirmed to Road and Track that it’s calling time on the Portofino M, with the Roma now the entry-level Ferrari. 

Which makes a lot of sense, because who’s going to buy a Portofino rather than the gorgeous Roma Spider?