The new California T, it was a two-plus-two convertible , but its engine was behind the cabin whereas the California packs its V-8 up front. That original “t” suffix denoted the shape of the power train and axles if you were looking at the car from above.

The “T” in the new California nomenclature denotes turbocharging. Ferrari hasn’t used forced induction since the bat-crap-crazy F40 was the first to break the 200-mph road-car barrier in the late 1980s.

The T’s block is slightly different, and it has dedicated heads. Equal-length headers feed twin-scroll turbochargers supplied by IHI.Unlike a cross-plane crank, the flat crank has even bank-to-bank firing equalizing pulses to the turbos without a spaghetti bowl of exhaust piping.

Those headers are cast in three pieces and then welded together, as the paths are too complex to do it in one casting. The downsizing helps the T deliver better fuel economy across the board, and Ferrari claims large improvements under all driving conditions.

The car’s longer gearing means the T is capable of cruising below 2000 rpm most of the time. Ferrari does warn, however, that a heavy foot will shrink real-world mileage results dramatically.

We estimate 17 mpg in the city and 24 mpg highway, which should break the California T out of the gas-guzzler bracket. That would be a first for Ferrari since such taxes were first imposed in 1980.

With 552 horses on tap and the benefit of launch control, the T should get to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and cover the quarter-mile in 11.6 seconds, both numbers representing sizable improvements over those of the outgoing model.

Unlike the acceleration times, however, the price isn’t shrinking. Ferrari says the California T will be priced the same as the outgoing model, which should be just over $200,000.