The future of the automobile industry goes through electric vehicles seems to be the new mantra.
Whether a car manufacturer has enthusiastic and passionate fans; whether a company is in a niche or aimed at the wealthy, lovers of speed or all-terrain vehicles, to survive carmakers need to have electric models in their portfolio.
The past of a firm as glorious as it is is not important here. The counters are reset to zero for everyone, young wolves wanting to disrupt the industry, disruptors-in-chief and legacy carmakers, everyone is judged the same way.
But another reality has also emerged in the industry: SUVs, which are the "babies" that a sedan and a 4X4 could have, are the most popular segment. In addition, SUVs offer some of the best margins.
Therefore, to ensure its profitability and expand its customer base, a car manufacturer must offer at least one Sport Utility Vehicle.
SUV or Car?
Ferrari (RACE) finally got it. After resisting the sirens of SUVs for a long time, the prestigious Italian brand has finally unveiled a SUV/crossover, a first for the prancing horse brand known for its two-door cars.
The company, however, does not call this vehicle SUV but "car," despite the fact that the silhouette is identical to that of the SUV/crossover developed and sold even by its direct competitors such as Maserati, Aston Martin, Bentley, Lamborghini, Rolls- Royce, Range Rover and Porsche.
"Ferrari today unveiled the Purosangue, the first ever four-door, four-seater car in the Prancing Horse’s 75-year history," the company said in a press release.
The Purosangue (Thoroughbred in Italian) takes up the latest design codes of the prancing horse brand. It remains relatively low for an SUV, with a height of 1.59 meter, almost 5 centimeters less than a Lamborghini Urus, for a length of 4.97 meters.
Ferrari
While Ferrari has released several 4-seater cars in its history, so-called 2+2 coupés (with two fairly small seats in the back), the Purosangue also asserts itself as the brand's first four-door model and with seats rather generous for rear passengers. It innovates with doors with inverted openings in order to facilitate access to the rear while preserving the compact aspect of this new model, the company said.
There is also a 473-litre trunk, a record volume for a Ferrari and an important point for a vehicle that is intended to be family-friendly.
Sport Car
The Purosangue remains a sport car.
Under the hood, you find the emblematic 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 with an output of 725 horsepower. Ferrari insists in particular on its central front position, while its gearbox is placed at the rear, in order to optimize the distribution of the weight and the overall behavior of the vehicle.
As a result the SUV can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.3 seconds and from 0 to 200 km/h in 10.6 seconds. The maximum speed is over 310 km/h.
"In a Ferrari first, owners are being offered the opportunity to personalize the roof of their car," the company said. "They can opt for a full-length electrochromic glass roof instead of the carbon-fibre version offered as standard. The glass is coated on its lower surface with an electro-sensitive film. When a small electric current is passed through the film, it changes its tint level to either flood the cabin with sunlight or provide shade where necessary."
The starting price of the Purosangue is 390,000 euros ($389,000) in Italy. Ferrari has not unveiled the U.S. pricing. At 390,000 euros, the Purosangue becomes the most expensive SUV in the world, far ahead of the Rolls-Royce Cullinan ($330,000), the Lamborghini Urus ($222,004), the Range Rover SVAutobiography Dynamic Black Edition ($211,000), the 2021 Porsche Panamera Turbo S Sport Turismo ($195,000), the Aston Martin DBX ($176,900) and the Bentley Bentayga ($166,425.)
The idea remains to cultivate a certain scarcity. The Purosangue should not represent more than 20% of the brand's sales in terms of volumes.
The first deliveries are expected in the second quarter of 2023.
