Last week, news broke that Ferrari was plotting a third assembly line in Maranello dedicated entirely to EV production. But this turned out to be little more than a preamble for the obligatory announcement that the company would eventually transition toward building electric vehicles.
On Thursday, the Italian automaker told investors that all-electric and hybrid models will make up 80 percent of its global sales volume by 2030. This is to be done via a slew of new products it hopes to launch between now and 2026. Though the first Ferrari to run exclusively on battery power isn’t scheduled to arrive until 2025. According to the manufacturer, it’s plotting to launch 15 new vehicles as part of the overarching strategy. While some of those will undoubtedly be duplicates boasting open-air cockpits and slightly different powertrains, it has still got to be some kind of record for the brand.
That said, it looks as though Ferrari expects the hybrid models to do the heavy lifting until European and Chinese mandates force its hand. The company expects its upcoming fully electric cars to account for just 5 percent of its sales initially. However, it’s targeting battery electric vehicles (BEVs) to be roughly 40 percent of its volume by 2030. Hybrid models are assumed to have an inverse trajectory, starting at 55 percent in 2025 (a sizable increase from the 20 percent witnessed in 2021) before matching its purely electric products’ 40 percent in 2030.
“We believe we can use the electric engine to enhance the performance of our cars,” CEO Benedetto Vigna told investors.
There’s certainly reason to believe they can. Most of the brand’s fastest-accelerating cars already use some form of hybridization. The LaFerrari utilized a 6.3-liter V12 MHEV (mild hybrid) to slap 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds and the SF90’s 4.0-liter V8 Bi-Turbo PHEV (plug-in hybrid) manages the same thanks in part to its trio of electric motors.
Ferrari said it’s planning to invest 4.4 billion euros ($4.58 billion) by 2026 with a strong emphasis on vehicle development. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) are presumed to rest between 2.5 billion and 2.7 billion euros by then. Electric motors will be built in-house, along with the necessary battery modules. Production and subsequent vehicle assembly will take place at the expanded assembly facility in Maranello, Italy. But Vigna said that some of the “non-core components” will need to be outsourced.
Considering former CEO Louis Camilleri had stated Ferrari would never go all-electric in 2020, adding that he couldn’t even see 50 percent electrification within his lifetime, this represents a seismic change for a brand that literally trades on combustion noises and motorized excess. But Camilleri abandoned ship not long after making those comments, handing the reigns to chairman John Elkann — who has been much more welcoming of EVs.
Elkann told investors he believed electrification would allow the brand to produce “make even more unique cars” than it had in the past. Though he vowed that they would all be “distinctively Ferrari.”
[Image: Veyron Photo/Shutterstock]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
Hybrids make sense for Ferrari, but not full EVs.
The world can tolerate a few V12s lumbering about.
They’ll be ripe cannon fodder for George Soros’ drone strikes!
Does it mean that Ferrari will make autonomous EVs? Self-driving Ferrari – sounds perfect to me – it is important that it sounds like V12 ICE engine, is there driver or not is not that important.
I wonder what these automakers will say when they reintroduce ICE powertrains when the EV boondoggle collapses.
Seeing the long distance driving and towing videos with the fake lightning, it’s clear EVs are light years away from becoming more than just vanity products.
“Noone” has meaningfully driven Ferraris for at least a decade, by now. “Owned not driven”, as Bond may have said if he was less thoroughly indoctrinated.
Their main competitor, is no longer Lamborghini, nor Porsche. But rather Uber Black Rollers and Bentleys.
I’ve seen enough jankily repaired high mileage salvage title Ferraris on various YouTube to know someone’s driving them. Not the super high end stuff for the most part, but plenty (relatively speaking) 458’s and the like getting miles.
I see one or two a day during weekends…so yes people do drive them.
I’m talking the new ones. Older ones were, and still are if they run, sometimes driven. By a very different demographic than the ones buying new ones.
I wasn’t going to purchase a Ferrari, but now I probably won’t.
(Yeah yeah, I know – “You know nothing about cars, Tool – go back to your cave and eat rice and beans until the zombies show up.” Well, let me lay this factoid on you, whippersnapper: Tool knows not to call it an “electric engine” – which apparently is more than those hotsnots at Ferrari know about motor vehicles. Just mull that over during your next 32 second petrol stop.)
“Tool knows not to call it an “electric engine” – which apparently is more than those hotsnots at Ferrari know about motor vehicles.”
Or it’s more than the PR team that wrote the announcement knows about English diction. I’d assume I know a lot more about that than Ferrari’s PR team does, too, but I’d also assume that Ferrari knows a lot more about building a car than I do.
Would the koenigsegg regera have an “electric engine” since the crankshaft gets an assist from a directly connected electric motor at low speeds?
I was thinking about it the other day, I think even among super car owners Ferrari’s get driven less then any other. On warm days here in CT seeing a lambo, mclaren, etc, driving around is not that uncommon, but all the Ferraris I see are older ones (like well over 10 years old) I have seen more Bugatti on the roads then recent Ferraris. The last newer Ferrari I saw driving around was probably 3 years ago.
A dependable Ferrari… cool… with good rear visibility? Naah…
Car companies are having to do feverish R&D to compete with each other in the electric market. Whoever falls behind will either have to sell cheap or go out of business. The buyer will benefit.
And anyone who thinks EVs aren’t the future has their head buried very deeply in the sand, and hasn’t seen the price of a gallon of fuel lately.
Do you think Ferrari’s customers lie awake at night worrying about the price of a gallon of fuel?
Well, some of them. The ones who own oil companies do.
LOL – right on.
What I think Ferrari REALLY should worry about is that electrification is going to have the net effect of commoditizing vehicles even more than they already are. Exactly what is going to be the distinctness of a electric Ferrari over an electric Lambo: the bright red paint?
Maybe this is what was meant by the phrases “electric engine” and that Ferrari “make even more unique cars”. If you have to say it like that, then it’s unlikely to be so.
The most unique car is the car that is truly “one of one”. So if you see an EV Ferrari as having limited appeal, that’s all by design. Only the most discriminating consumer will buy one. The trick is in figuring out which one of us is that consumer. He or she will no doubt be well-heeled, as the price will increase commensurately with the uniqueness of the offering. The true genius of Ferrari’s business plan is revealed when considered in the light of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance). Reducing manufacturing output from 11,000 vehicles to only one will cut Ferrari’s manufacturing environmental impact by 99.99% year-over-year. Corporate sustainability and shareholder value will be preserved by scaling the unit price.* Further ESG improvements may be achieved by rationalizing dealerships and engineering resources with respect to the new unit volumes.
If you think you have what it takes to be *the* Ferrari customer for the new era, submit your application today!**
* Estimated base MSRP of 5,500,000,000 USD
** Non-refundable 1% deposit required at time of application
Demand. Destruction.
(I think my plan of moving to Texas to become an oil baron might have some deficiencies…)
Producing (or desiring) an EV “Ferrari” over an all gas Ferrari with a gated shifter manual transmission is akin to lusting after Bruce (“Caitlin”) Jenner over Kathy Ireland.