The Ferrari Mondial replaced the Bertone-bodied 308 GT4 in 1980 as Ferrari's mid-engined 2+2 grand tourer, with a Pininfarina-designed body and a transverse-mounted V8 shared with the 308/328 (and, from 1989, a longitudinally-mounted 3.4-litre V8 shared with the 348). It was produced in four principal generations across 13 years: the Mondial 8 (1980–82, Bosch K-Jetronic 2.9 V8, 214 PS); the Mondial Quattrovalvole (1982–85, four-valve heads, 240 PS); the Mondial 3.2 (1985–89, 3.2-litre V8 shared with the 328); and the Mondial t (1989–93, all-new longitudinally-mounted 3.4-litre V8 shared with the 348, transverse gearbox in a T-layout that gives the model its name).
A Cabriolet joined the range at Frankfurt in September 1983 (initially in QV form) and remained the only four-seat convertible in Ferrari's line-up until the model was withdrawn in 1993. Ferrari did not offer another convertible with rear seats until the California arrived in 2008. The Mondial's long tenure as the 'entry-level' Ferrari left it with a difficult market reputation for most of the 2000s and 2010s; that reputation is now materially softer for the manual-transmission Mondial t Cabriolet, the QV Cabriolet and the rare Mondial t Valeo semi-automatic.
The Mondial is Ferrari's only mid-engined 2+2 of the modern era and the only four-seat convertible Ferrari built between the 1960s and the arrival of the California in 2008. It is also the practical entry point to a matching-numbers Pininfarina-bodied V8 Ferrari with genuine usability, four seats and — in Mondial t Cabriolet manual specification — a driving character much closer to a 348 Spider than the model's reputation suggests.