The 308GT4 was introduced at the Paris Salon in October 1973. The first Bertone styled  production Ferrari, it was also the first V8 mid-engined road car for Ferrari.

Road tests at the time were favourable with regard to performance and handling but were not too kind to the styling. Once the car was adapted to US requirements, its performance dropped noticeably. European configuration was 255 HP, US dropped to 225 with catlytic convertors, air pumps and ignition timing differences. And to make matters worse there is a 350+lb weight penalty for the US version.

Production started in 1974 and continued to 1980. A total of 2826 were built with an additional 840 208GT4 built for the Italian market.