Expected to be unveiled at the Los Angeles Motorshow, the new F430 Scuderia Spider is Ferrari's most expensive F430 yet, with a price tag north of 250,000 Euros. Sharing the same lightweight materials as the hard-top Scuderia, the Spider is expected to do 0-100km/h in under 3.6 seconds and a top speed of at least 310km/h with the roof up. Right now, the Scuderia Spider is largely brandished as the Spideria - to Ferrari's chagrin - around the web and a fair amount of criticism has been laid upon the car, claiming that a topless Scuderia is a pointless exercise, since it will hardly share the same rigidity as the coupe.

But that won't stop Ferrari from selling the Spider; as of today, Ferrari has sold more coupe Scuderias than the previous lightweight Ferrari, the 360 Challenge Stradale. Despite Ferrari's best efforts to curb production, the demand for their cars have been staggering. Despite their recent sales success, they have nevertheless decided to remain cautious due to the recent global economic crisis, and have forecasted a slightly lower sales target for 2009. Which, we believe, will only strengthen demand for their cars. With the recently launched California heading for delivery in the next coming months, we wonder if the 430 Scuderia Spider will somehow divert buyers from the range-topping roadster. Insiders tell us that both cars are entirely different beasts and that the Spider will be a focused, track-ready roadster with poor noise insulation and frame hugging seats. Rumours of the canvas roof mechanism being dumped in favour of a metal one remains unfounded, though we doubt Ferrari would opt for the heavier, more costly option. 

The first batch of Scuderia coupes will arrive in Malaysia by the end of this month and we've also heard rumours that bookings for the topless Scuderia have already begun. Expect the Spider to arrive in the 3rd quarter of 2009, and if the coupe's prices are anything to go by, we expect the car to cost a cool RM2.5 million, at the very least. 

Photos Courtesy of Jonsibal.com