Rumors have been circulating for years that Ferrari was preparing to launch a cheaper sports car at the bottom end of its range. But the latest word has it that the project has been put on the back burner.

Asked whether the long-rumored Dino project was still alive, Ferrari's chief commercial officer Enrico Galliera told Autocar "I would never use the word dead in the future strategy. [But] it's certainly not something that we're planning shortly." So while it could yet see the light of day at some future date, we shouldn't count on that date to come up any time soon.

The Dino was a sort of sub-brand (long before the term gained popularity) that Ferrari employed in the 1960s and '70s. Its most recognized model was the Dino 206/246 GT, which rivaled the Porsche 911s of their day with mid-mounted V6 engines. They were followed by the singularly Bertone-designed 208/308 GT4 – a decidedly boxier 2+2 that was Ferrari's first V8 road car. Numerous racing cars (and road-going Fiat sports cars) were also badged under the Dino name, in tribute to Enzo Ferrari's son who suffered from muscular dystrophy and died at just 24 years old.

Rumors started picking up that Ferrari was preparing to revive the Dino line after the turn of the millennium. The California that emerged instead (from an aborted Maserati project) didn't carry the name, but broadened Maranello's lineup to more accessible levels. The late chief executive Sergio Marchionne was said to have favored slotting in something even more accessible to take on the likes of the McLaren 570S and Audi R8, but his successor Louis Camilleri has taken a different approach, turning erstwhile limited-edition lines into standard production models with higher pricer tags, like the SF Stradale and 812 GTS.

"Our product line-up is basically trying to redesign our positioning, but we don't feel there is a need for an entry-price [model] in our product range," added Galliera, "and we plan to remain consistent with what we already declared we want to do."

So if you're keen on picking up a Prancing Horse but can't quite stretch to the $200+k sticker on a new Portofino, it appears that you'll have to keep looking to where Ferrari has long pointed its aspiring clients: to the second-hand market.