Yahoo Autos Ferrari Confirms It’ll Build a Hybrid Crossover for 2022
Despite nearly a decade's worth of fiery denials that it would ever do this, Ferrari will introduce its first SUV by 2022. The new model will see the world's raciest automaker expand its lineup of all-wheel-drive four-seaters-and will be part of a move to a lineup that will be 60 percent hybrid by 2022.
The SUV, code-named Purosangue ("Pure Blood") to soothe doubts that Ferrari is backtracking on the late Sergio Marchionne's challenge that he would be shot dead before Maranello made such a thing, will not mirror anything else on the market, according to CEO Louis Camillieri.
Still, he has strong feelings on the topic as well: "I abhor seeing SUV in the same sentence as Ferrari," Camillieri said during an investor conference on Tuesday. "It just doesn't sit well with our brand and what it represents."
Camillieri, who took over after Marchionne's sudden death in late July, said he was skeptical of the company’s definitive plans-which surfaced last summer-until he saw the design. In its presentation, Ferrari refused to call the Purosangue an SUV or a crossover but instead described it as a vehicle for "multiple occasions and passengers" and offering "revolutionary accessibility." Underpinning the Purosangue will be a high-voltage hybrid powertrain connected to either a V-12, a V-8, or an all-new turbocharged V-6 that Ferrari intends to launch by 2022.
The Purosangue will be based on an all-new platform that will underpin the automaker's next-gen front-engined models. It’s one of 15 new Ferrari models and variants between 2019 and 2022, by which time 60 percent will be hybrids. While Camillieri did not say whether the Purosangue would directly replace the GTC4Lusso, Ferrari's only car with all-wheel drive and four seats, chief technical officer Michael Leiters confirmed a plug-in hybrid for the Lusso's successor. Read between the lines, and the Purosangue is this: a higher-riding four-door with a turbo V-6 hybrid as the base engine, with V-8 and potentially V-12 engines to round out the lineup. Leiters also promised a "new innovative suspension" with a more comfortable ride than the experience offered by current Ferrari GT cars.
As for looks and performance? We can only trust it'll feel more special and outrageous than the Audi Q7–based Lamborghini Urus.
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