Ferrari has revealed the second member of the 488 family: the Spider. The open-top, V8 supercar arrives only six months after the GTB was first introduced, and becomes the most powerful drop-top ever to come out of Maranello. It has made its world debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show and will arrive in dealers next summer.

As with the 458 Spider that went before it, the 488 uses a two-piece retractable hard-top. It’s 25kg lighter than the fabric roof used on the old F430 Spider. Like every drop-top Ferrari, the 488’s roof can only be operated when the car is stationary for safety reasons, but it can then be neatly and electrically stowed under the new flying buttresses in 14 seconds.

The added strengthening required to make up for the loss of a fixed roof means the Spider is 50kg heavier than the 488 GTB, but it’s still 10kg lighter than a 458 Spider. However, the aluminum chassis and body construction means the new car’s retained the same torsional rigidity as the coupé.

Also carried over from the GTB is the new 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 and seven-speed F1 dual-clutch transmission. Developing 660bhp at 8,000rpm and 760Nm of torque at 3,000rpm, the Spider has a claimed 0-62mph time of three seconds flat. That’s identical to the hard-top GTB’s time, and 0.4 seconds faster than the old 458 Spider powered by the 562bhp 4.5-litre naturally aspirated V8. Roof up or down, the 488 will top out at 203mph, yet Ferrari claims 24.7mpg and CO2 emissions of 260g/km.