The Ferrari 849 Testarossa looks much closer to the 1980s supercar that made the name famous in a new digital project by Khyzyl Saleem, better known online as The Kyza. The designer has reworked most of the plug-in hybrid Ferrari’s body while leaving the cabin and portions of the rear structure largely intact, pushing the overall design in a much more retro direction.
What if the Ferrari 849 Testarossa looked more like the original?
The biggest transformation appears at the front. The production car’s lighting treatment disappears in favor of pop-up headlights, one of the most recognizable design features of Ferrari sports cars from that era. A flatter, cleaner hood joins slim air openings and a substantial carbon-fiber splitter, combining classic proportions with the aerodynamic requirements expected from a modern supercar.
Interestingly, Ferrari itself explored the possibility of using pop-up headlights during development of the real 849 Testarossa before safety and homologation requirements pushed the design team toward a different solution.
The sides receive an equally extensive redesign. Large horizontal air intakes reference the original 1984 Testarossa, although Saleem enlarges and reshapes them to fit the wider, more sculpted body of the modern car. HRE 505 wheels reinforce the period-inspired theme, while a single driver-side mirror recalls early Testarossa examples with their distinctive high-mounted mirror.
At the rear, slim LED lights sit visually behind a full-width section of black horizontal slats, creating the project’s clearest reference to the classic Testarossa’s rear grille. A large carbon diffuser and two circular exhaust outlets keep the design connected to modern performance cars. The underlying proportions of the 849 remain recognizable, but the retro details dramatically change the way the Testarossa name comes across.
The transformation remains purely visual and virtual. Under the imagined bodywork, the car would retain the production 849 Testarossa’s plug-in hybrid system. Ferrari combines a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 producing about 819 hp with three electric motors that contribute approximately 217 hp, bringing total system output to 1,035 hp. The hybrid architecture also provides all-wheel drive.
Ferrari took a different approach with the real 849 Testarossa. Its design draws heavily from the company’s sports prototypes of the 1970s rather than directly recreating the famous 1980s Testarossa. Ferrari describes the production car through sharper, more geometric surfaces and references to machines such as the 512 S and 512 M.
Saleem’s render explores the opposite direction, showing how pop-up headlights, dramatic side intakes and horizontal rear slats could have created a much more immediate visual connection with the 1984 icon. The project has no official connection to Ferrari and remains an independent interpretation of how a modern Testarossa could have looked.