For Ferrari it was becoming imperative to increase sales and reduce production costs. With the prototype of the Dino 196 S already in-house, there was an excellent opportunity to design a relatively small displacement, road-going version which, for the first time in Ferrari history, could be built on an assembly line. Pininfarina came up with pretty, classic lines and the Fiat V6 was developed by Ferrari and engineered for transverse mounting amidships.