Ferrari’s replacement for the California is still out testing but work on the car should be coming to end soon, as a debut is expected this spring. This means we’re likely to see the covers come off at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show in March, the same event where Lamborghini will be showing its new Huracán LP 610-4.

The information was first published by Motor Trend, citing a source at Ferrari.

The new car, whatever it’s called, will fit a similar mold to that of the California, which it’s destined to replace. Expect an aluminum body, automated folding roof and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission all to remain.

One change, however, will be the adoption of a turbocharged engine, Ferrari’s first in a production car since the legendary F40 of the 1980s. The new engine will be a V-8, most likely based on the twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter unit found in the Maserati Quattroporte (Ferrari is actually the manufacturer of the Maserati's engine).

In the Quattroporte, the engine is tuned to deliver 523 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque. Considering the latest version of the California produces 483 horsepower and 372 pound-feet of torque, the adoption of the turbocharged engine should boost performance considerably.

Look for a 0-60 mph time of around 3.0 seconds and a top speed approaching 200 mph.

One other key change in the car will be a much improved interface compared to the one in the California, which was actually based on a Chrysler system. Ferrari has enlisted the help of tech giant Apple to develop new interface features for its cars, so expect some advances in this department.

Modern Ferraris already do a pretty good job of making you feel like a top-level racing driver. With Manettino switches for selecting different driving modes, near-instantaneous gear shifts and ultra-modern displays, Ferrari cockpits get pretty close to that race car feel. For those who want their driving skills to match, the company has now unveiled Ferrari Telemetry.

As the name suggests, it's an in-built telemetry system that appear in the F12 Berlinetta, 458 Speciale and LaFerrari supercars and can record and relay detailed telemetry information to make best use of your time on the track. By measuring several aspects of your car's position and performance, the Telemetry system can compare the data and relay it back to you on-screen in the instrument binnacle, or in more detail afterwards using the associated app--allowing you to fine-tune your driving on-track, and even on the road, based on previous recordings.

The system can record acceleration and braking, cornering speeds and several other metrics, as well as lap times and sector times for even clearer evidence of your improvement., There's even the option to record video along with the data, so you can study your performance afterwards in the comfort of your couch. As Ferrari's video hints, it's a system best combined with professional driving instruction--such as the Ferrari Pilota courses--so you can review your performance and improvement as you learn.

In effect, it's very similar to the data recordings professional racing drivers have access to every time they return to the pits. It isn't, however, the first time we've seen such a system on a road car: Chevrolet has already revealed its own hard-wired performance recorder for the 2015 Corvette Stingray, combining video footage with telemetry data to analyze laps...or simply to post on Youtube and show off your driving skills...

Ferrari has already managed to curb its CO2 emissions by almost 40 percent since 2007, back when its cars were averaging about 435 grams per kilometer as opposed to the current rate of about 270 g/km, but the Italian automaker isn’t applying the brakes just yet. A senior Ferrari exec says the marque’s lineup should see average CO2 reduced by a further 20 percent by 2021, thanks to turbocharging and hybrid technologies.

"Our average CO2 emissions are currently about 270 grams of CO2 per kilometre,” Ferrari powertrain director Vittorio Dini told Automotive News (subscription required). “We want to use all the available technologies to reduce emissions by 3 percent each year, which means approximately a 20 percent decrease by 2021."

To achieve this, without hurting the performance of its lineup, Ferrari will slowly add turbochargers to all of its V-8 models and hybrid systems on all of its V-12s. As we’ve previously reported, Ferrari has no plans to adopt engines with fewer than eight cylinders.

We’ve already seen the new strategy with the company’s California T and LaFerrari bookend models, and soon other models will be transformed. Next in the line is expected to be 458, which will likely adopt a version of the California T’s twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V-8 as part of its mid-cycle update in 2015.

As Automotive News points out, Ferrari is treated as a standalone company when it comes to meeting CO2 emissions standards, even though it is part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. This is because it has its own headquarters and research facilities and remains largely independent. However, since it only produces 7,000 cars per year, Ferrari has some leeway when negotiating targets with regulators.

"What is important is that Ferrari achieves the same percentage reduction trend as volume automakers," Dini explained.

Audi has just shown an engine packing a turbocharger that is electrically-driven at low revs to help eliminate lag. Audi is expected to initially offer the technology in its next-generation Q7 SUV, most likely in 2016, but the German automaker isn’t the only one investigating the advanced turbo design.

4WheelsNews, citing sources in Italy, is reporting that Ferrari is among the handful of automakers looking to add an electronically-driven turbocharger to its future force-fed models. The Prancing Horse already has the technology available, as it features in the automaker’s 2014 Formula One car.

Ferrari has confirmed that it will stick with V-8 and V-12 engines for the foreseeable future but will add turbocharging systems to its eight-cylinder mills in order to boost their performance while cutting CO2 emissions. We’ve already seen this with the California T, Ferrari’s first turbocharged car since the F40. The V-12s, meanwhile, will stay naturally aspirated but be paired with hybrid systems, as seen in the LaFerrari.

While it’s not clear when we might see another Ferrari hybrid, the automaker’s next turbocharged car is expected to be an updated version of the 458 Italia due in 2015. It’s not clear if this model will receive the new electrically-driven turbocharger, however.

Ferrari is in the midst of one of the biggest periods of transition in its history, with Sergio Marchionne having recently taken over the role of chairman from Luca di Montezemolo and parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles [NYSE:FCAU] about to make the storied Italian marque public for the first time by listing it on the New York Stock Exchange. We’re now hearing that Ferrari is about to dramatically change the way it build its cars.

For more than six decades, Ferrari has built sports cars and super sports cars that are the benchmark in the sector, thanks in part to the close links with the automaker’s racing arm as well as the continual drive for greater performance and innovation. The cars have also tended to benefit from bespoke platforms and engines, which has lent each a distinct personality.

According to a report from Automobile, Ferrari’s future lineup of road cars, bar special series models like the LaFerrari, will move to a modular platform flexible enough to cater for cars with engines mounted in front of the cabin or behind it. The new platform is said to be a lightweight aluminum spaceframe design in which various powertrain, suspension and electronic modules can be swapped in and out with relative ease. The strategy is one the Volkswagen Group is also employing, with Porsche tasked with developing the German firm’s own modular sports car platform.

The new platform is said to be appearing initially in the replacement for the California, due in 2017, after which we’re likely to see it in a rumored modern-day Dino. Other models to be based on the platform will be the respective replacements for the 488 GTB, FF and F12 Berlinetta lines. But why aluminum and not carbon fiber like McLaren? According to the Prancing Horse, aluminum, while not as light and rigid as the carbon solution, has a better relationship of time and cost for production on a large scale and, at the same time, has the advantage of ease of maintenance.

In addition to the new platform, the Automobile report claims Ferrari is likely to continue its engine downsizing efforts. The new Dino, for example, is expected to feature a V-6 engine, and the FF replacement is said to forgo a V-12 in favor of a new V-8 engine shared with the 488’s replacement. Remember, one of the biggest challenges facing Ferrari is delivering excellent performance while reducing fuel consumption and emissions to a minimum.

The good news is that the V-12 will remain, though it will be augmented with hybrid technology to keep emissions down. Expect the hybrid V-12 powertrain to remain the domain of Ferrari’s top model and special series cars. Ferrari’s future hybrids will also be able to run on electric power alone for short distances. In fact, Ferrari already has a plug-in hybrid LaFerrari prototype that with a mix of electric-only and regular driving can produce CO2 emissions as low as 220 grams per kilometer—comparable to a small car.

Sergio Marchionne confirms Ferrari will build an SUV

Ferrari’s replacement for the vaunted LaFerrari won’t arrive until after 2022, and not to worry, it should likely pack an even more sizzling version of the V-12 hybrid powertrain.

At an investor meeting this week in Maranello, chief marketing officer Enrico Galliera said Ferrari is developing the next hypercar using part of a $4.2 billion budget earmarked between now and 2022. While that car will continue to be the "apex of performance and technological innovation" in the vein of the 950-hp LaFerrari—the fastest Ferrari C/Dhas ever tested in our 63 years—it's unlikely to pack a pure electric powertrain. CEO Louis Camillieri said that Ferrari is considering electric drive for its future product but is more insistent on a broad, company-wide shift to hybrids and plug-in hybrids that eventually will make up 60 percent of its lineup by 2022. During the meeting, Ferrari presented a slide entitled "Ferrari Music" showing a line graph of the exact tonal curves its engines produce from bass to tenor to soprano. That should be enough of a clue.

Because Ferrari is still a low-volume manufacturer, it has greater leeway than major automakers to continue refining large-displacement engines like its 6.5-liter V-12 and keep them in compliance with tightening emissions standards. Ferrari sold approximately 8400 cars worldwide in 2017. Once Maranello tops 10,000, a threshold that will no longer exempt it from the latest regulations in many markets, the engineering challenge to retain these classic engines will be much tougher.

But executives promised the V-12 will at least remain in production through 2022, if not longer, along with a "significant increase" in average retail prices for all of its cars over the next five years. More expensive Ferraris than now? Anyone could have predicted that.