Red Ferrari No Longer Called Mirage? (Updated)

Nelson dropped a minor bomb over at the Shoot for the Edit forums when he posted that the red Ferrari 458 Italia is no longer going to be called "Mirage" in the movie. He wrote, "All I will say is that he speaks with an Italian accent and is named after a famous Italian.”

The name Mirage was first confirmed due to an unintentional leak from Hasbro with an image of the Mirage Speed Stars toy and repeatedly verified in the various novel and comic book adaptations recently released. However, Nelson's response to that is "That doesn't mean shit. In the comic and novels the twins are still in it." His point being that the Twins where cut from the film (to the point of a $25k bounty if see them in it).

A thing to keep in mind is all adaptations are based on the near or final draft of the film. However, that is in pre-production and a lot can change during principle photography and post-production. Something the adaptations simply do not have time to account for unless the publishers want to release them month or so after the movie is out which few would agree too. Having said that, I doubt Hasbro is pleased unless of course they were told of the change before the box packaging was produced. This would explain why a Speed Stars vehicle is currently the only Mirage toy that has leaked up to this point. Strange considering all the other leaks that have occurred for nearly all the other characters in the film.

Now most are once again going to bring up "he's lying!" or "misinformation campaign". Again the question of motive comes to mind. To be blunt, the name of a Transformer character is not important to anyone but Transformers fans. The regular movie goer simply isn't going to give a crap if the red Ferrari is called Mirage or not even named at all. Until the question of motive for lying is answered, there is little reason to assume this information about "Mirage" is not correct.

So once again, the question has become "What is the name of the Ferrari 458 Italia?" with the only hint being that he is a famous Italian. Considering the long history of the country and its many contributions that is a very long list. My guess is Leonardo da Vinci as he is one of the top 5 most famous and his depth of knowledge and inventiveness fits the Transformers. Add your guesses in the comments. Thanks to NHLfan for the heads-up.


Update: For those guessing "Enzo" for Enzo Ferrari, founder of the company and car that was the on set reference for the character, Nelson wrote, "But it's changed since Enzo." To that I breath a sigh of relief. He also mentioned, "In the movie script, he was never called Mirage to begin with." Also added the pic from the Chicago set that Nelson tweeted (in various languages for some reason).