Yahoo Autos Ferrari Boss Says SUV Will "Probably Happen"
Rumors of Ferrari considering some sort of "utility vehicle" picked up steam last month, and now, the company's Chairman has said they're true. Bloomberg reports that Sergio Marchionne said that a Ferrari SUV would "probably happen" in a conference call Wednesday. That said, Ferrari's board hasn't made the final decision on wether to develop this car or not.
"[A Ferrari utility vehicle] will probably happen but it will happen in Ferrari’s style," Marchionne said. "That space is too big and too inviting and we have a lot of our customers who will be more than willing to drive a Ferrari-branded vehicle that has that a kind of utilitarian objective."
Last February, Marchionne said you'd "have to shoot me first" before Ferrari ever built an SUV. In Wednesday's call, reports Bloomberg, Marchionne echoed that line to say that Ferrari won't build an SUV similar to those from Porsche, Bentley and BMW.
"It has not been done to compete with Porsche," Marchionne said.
So no, Ferrari isn't building an SUV as such, but rather, a "Ferrari Utility Vehicle." Or at least that's what Marchionne says.
Reuters reports that Marchionne is considering the expansion into the SUV as part of his goal to push the brand's sales beyond 10,000 units per year. An SUV would help Ferrari maintain the exclusivity of its sports and GT cars, while helping the company find new customers and increase profits. Marchionne also thinks the market for Ferrari's more hardcore cars is limited.
"There are more people that would buy non-extreme versions of Ferrari than those that will buy extreme versions," he said.
Even though a Ferrari SUV is all but inevitable now, we still don't know quite what it'll look like. Reportedly, Ferrari is considering both two- and four-door body styles, but regardless, it'll probably ride on the same Aluminum platform as the GTC4Lusso's successor. It'll also get the Lusso's all-wheel drive system, which uses a second gearbox to send power to the front wheels directly from the engine. For power, expect a turbocharged V8 augmented by some sort of hybrid system.
Ferrari's SUV would come as part of a five-year plan Sergio Marchionne will unveil next year. We'll know then definitively whether or not Ferrari will to go down the SUV path, but don't be surprised if it does. Marchionne is a pragmatist, and building an SUV would likely be an easy way to achieve his goals for increased sales.
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