No sooner has Maranello’s girlie car, the California, made it into an Entourage scene (a series that puts the Ari into Ferrari), when the mid-engined 430 replacement breaks cover. This is the Ferrari 458 Italia, sporting a 562-hp 4.5-liter. After doing a little math, that works out to something close to 125 hp per liter, an impressive specific output for a naturally aspirated engine if ever there was one.

The design house is once again Pininfarina, obviously keeping those California sketches nearby. One cool wrinkle, though: the nose has small aeroelastic (Ferrari’s word) winglets which deform under speed, creating more downforce and reducing drag. And those triple exhaust pipes are neat.

Its lightweight aluminum body helps the car hit 60 mph from standstill in a blink under 3.4 seconds and top speed is a claimed 202 mph. The 458 gets a similar same dual-clutch seven-speed gearbox to the Cali and there’s a track-tuned electronic differential and traction control.

Other frothy facts include a double wishbone/multi-link front/rear suspension and 398 lb-ft of torque at 6000 rpm, with 80 percent of maximum twist available from 3250 rpm (peak hp chimes in at a ballistic 9000 rpm). Weight is 3042 pounds, distributed in a 42/58 manner.

Michael Schumacher has again had a hand in development. Did he really go for those 20-inch wheels, though, or did the marketing department overrule him on that one?