The
Dino marque was established to market a mid-engined V-6 powered car with price and performance more on par with the Porsche 911. At the time Ferrari vehicles were rear wheel drive V-12 powered designs with price and performance far higher than Porsches. The new marque was created to avoid diluting the Ferrari brand with lower tier vehicles, and also because Enzo Ferrari was concerned that the average driver wouldn't be able to safely drive a mid-engine vehicle. Also, Ferrari had to sell 500 vehicles powered by its Formula 2 racing engine to meet homologation requirements, so Fiat was contracted to build the Dino engines and a line of
Fiat Dino sports cars to get volume up. The Dino marque only lasted from 1968 to 1976, with the Dino itself continuing in production until 1980, but as an official Ferrari.
Of course, while the Porsche 911 and similar vehicles (Jaguar, Aston-Martin, etc.) are still rather expensive and high prestige relative to typical offerings, Ferrari and Lamborghini are in a class of their own for that. It's possible the brands might lose some of their prestige by providing more affordable offerings. Of course, it's also possible that they might be viewed as baby Ferrari and Lamborghini cars and benefit from the prestige of the higher tier vehicles.
So, what would the survival of the Dino marque have meant for Ferrari and its competitors? Could something like it have been done without harming the reputation of the flagship brands? As an even more interesting option, could they have joined with one of the smaller performance automobile companies of the time (such as
Bandini, which I made a thread about
here) to create independent companies built entirely around selling performance and racing vehicles?