Purr-oh-song-way, that’s how you pronounce the name of Ferrari’s new SUV, the Ferrari Purosangue. That’s the name that was confirmed at a recent investor meeting, where the Italian supercar manufacturer also outlined its future product plans for the next generation, revealing that there will be in total, 15 new Ferraris coming to the market. Of course, the big news everyone is taking away from the meeting is that a Ferrari crossover SUV is happening – much to purists’ chagrin.
Ferrari Purosangue – The Details
So now that there’s no going back and the iconic sports car manufacturer has given in to social convention – China is apparently a particularly key market involved in the decision to pursue a crossover vehicle – let’s iron out the details.
Purosangue is Italian for ‘thoroughbred’, a breed of horse most renowned for track racing, and is said to be symbolic of the fact that this will not be like any other SUV. While many might have thought Ferrari would be chasing down the Lamborghini Urus in the high-performance SUV stakes, the Ferrari Purosangue will be a utility vehicle of a different kind. Don’t call it an SUV – that’s apparently a dirty word for Ferrari execs. The Purosangue will be more of a crossover than a full-on SUV and will boast coupe-like styling rather than a traditional 2-box SUV.
It will make use of an all-new platform, one that will be shared with other forthcoming Ferrari models. The platform, and indeed the Purosangue, will make use of a front-mid mounted engine (located up front but behind the front axle) and a transaxle gearbox (mounted on the rear axle) to ensure high levels of balance with most of the weight centered between the axles for improved handling. The Purosangue will also feature a 4-wheel drive system, too, which also suggests the successor to the GTC4Lusso will be built on this same platform.
Multiple drivetrain options will be available too, as the Purosangue’s new front-mid engine architecture is designed with a hybrid drivetrain in mind. The high-voltage system is said to enable a high electric-only range, in addition to acting as supplementary power for the sake of performance. It’s likely a hybrid version will be just one drivetrain option, with a traditional V8 likely to feature with a pair of turbochargers as the standard drivetrain. While few details of the hybrid system have been divulged, Chief Technical Officer at Ferrari, Michael Leiters, has confirmed to Road & Track that a new V6 engine is in the works, which is likely to be the engine used for hybridization purposes.
The Purosangue will be available in several seating configurations, with 2, 2+2, and 4 seat versions all possible thanks to the variable wheelbase of the new platform.
14 Other New Ferraris
While the biggest takeaway from the investor meeting may have been the Ferrari Purosangue, they’ve also confirmed 14 other new models by the year 2022.
The Purosangue’s platform will spawn a new hybridized GT car or two, likely the replacements for the GTC4Lusso and 812 Superfast. The same platform will also underpin an upcoming “elegant” GT car to sit alongside the GTC4Lusso and entry-level Portofino.
Additionally, a mid-engined hybridized platform will be developed for the Ferrari 488 GTB successor. That same platform will also underpin a larger mid-engined range-topping supercar for the Italian brand – not a LaFerrari successor, but rather a new ‘standard’ model positioned above the 488, likely to rival the Lamborghini Aventador. The new mid-engine platform could also spawn more future models, though Enrico Galleria, Ferrari’s head of marketing, did state that a new LaFerrari-level vehicle won’t arrive until after the model onslaught by 2022.
While details of the remaining vehicles weren’t divulged, we do know that all of these will be debuting in the next 4 years, with an average of just under 4 new Ferraris arriving per year. We also know that Ferrari is working on a new dual-clutch automatic transmission that will feature in all its vehicles going forward, and will likely be integrated into the new hybrid drivetrains. The news of a new V6 could also work in a potential revival of the Dino nameplate.
Icona Range
Despite the lack of information regarding new vehicles, it’s fair to assume that there will be several one-offs, or limited production models entering the fray too. At the investors meeting, Ferrari unveiled two new special models – the Monza SP1 and Monza SP2 – as part of a new series of vehicles called the ‘Icona’ range. The Icona range of vehicles are said to be inspired by Ferraris of the past but imbued with all the technology and performance of the latest Ferrari technologies.
Read more about the Ferrari Monza SP1 and SP2 here.
