Ferrari Worried Purosangue SUV Will Change Its Image

Text and artist’s conceptions by Wallace Wyss –

Didja ever worry about TOO much success? Ferrari is actually worried the new Purosangue will sell too many vehicles and thus dilute its image as a sports car maker. Never mind that Porsche saved itself when the Cayenne SUV and their smaller SUVs took 55% of sales.

But Ferrari doesn’t want that reputation of “family cars” so they announced they plan to limit the number of SUVs it sells. They talked about limiting it to 10%-20% of sales which would mean anywhere from 1,500 units to 3,000 units a year worldwide.

Theoretically if they could stop building mid-engined supercars, and make nothing but 2023 Ferrari Purosangues, they would do well. But they want us to believe that they are not about making money, but about keeping the heritage going.

Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna was quoted as saying the Ferrari Purosangue would be capped at an average of 20 per cent of Ferrari’s annual total production.

Another executive whose name wasn’t quoted (probably because he was saying something so silly) was quoted as saying “This will not be a high-volume car. It is a sports car, and if you remember the [product portfolio] chart [shown on screen], it was staying there, as a sports car.”

But if it is actually entered in a race, even something like the Dakar, conceivably it will be thought of as a sporting vehicle.

Ferrari can’t ignore how the premium market has changed. Even, the Aston Martin DBX makes up 45 per cent of the British marque’s volume, and Lotus, the British sports car maker, now estimates SUVs and sedans will account for 90 per cent of its future business. Ferrari did not say so in their announcement but it is likely that sales will even be limited to those who are already Ferrari owners as they do with their SP cars.

The Purosangue – Italian for “thoroughbred” – is planned to be unveiled in early September 2022 with the first customer deliveries early next year. Originally it was speculated that there would be three different models–a V12, a V8 and a V6 with twin turbos but now Ferrari has made it clear that the V12 will be here from the start– Ferrari’s 6.5-liter naturally-aspirated V12, as seen in the 812 Superfast and GTS. The hybrid V6 or V8 options will come later, maybe as emissions laws make the V12 version verboten in some countries.

Let us know what you think in the Comments.

THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss is the author of 18 automotive histories and a fine arts painter specializing in Ferraris.

 
 
 
 
 
 

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Article Name

Ferrari Worried Purosangue SUV Will Change Its Image

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Ferrari is worried the new Purosangue SUV will sell too many vehicles and thus dilute its image as a sports car maker.

Author

Wallace Wyss