Ferrari bioethanol F430 news - Green Spider - 2008

If you had any doubt that Detroit is turning green, slowly but surely, here's your proof: a biofuel F430. 

Yes, Ferrari used its Detroit stand to show off a bioethanol-powered F430 Spider as proof of its aim to cut overall emissions levels by 40 per cent by 2012. 

The Spider runs on E85 bioethanol - that's fuel with 85 per cent ethanol - which, says, Ferrari, reduces CO2 output by five per cent. That's a mere, erm, 399g/km of CO2, then. 

Though Ferrari says that all its current cars can run on up to 10 per cent bioethanol without modification, the F430 required a few tweaks to run on the strong stuff. A few revisions to the fuel feed system and engine CPU did the trick and, serendipitously, helped to up power, too: the biofuel Spider puts out an extra 10bhp and 14lb ft more torque than the petrol-powered variant.

Who says you can't have your cake and eat it?