Ferrari’s entry-level model is a V6-electric plug-in hybrid, but the company stressed that downsizing won’t spread across its entire lineup. It plans to keep the naturally-aspirated V12 engine alive for as long as possible, even as it prepares to release its first electric supercar.
“We will produce naturally-aspirated V12s until the law [no longer] allows us to,” confirmed Emanuele Carando, Ferrari’s global marketing director, in an interview with Australian website CarExpert. He added that synthetic fuels could help extend the 12-cylinder’s shelf life.
Arch rival Lamborghini remains committed to the naturally-aspirated V12 as well, but how long these companies can continue making 12-cylinder engines without summoning a dark cloud of disapproval from regulators remains to be seen. In the European Union, the sale of new piston-powered cars will be illegal in 2035, though a last-minute exemption was made for some synthetic fuels. Lawmakers in the United Kingdom have settled on 2035 as well. Our market isn’t quite there yet, but much stricter emissions regulations are looming on the horizon.
Interestingly, the executive revealed that Ferrari considered giving the 12Cilindri, its new V12-powered GT, hybrid power. Ultimately, the car made its debut without electrification. “We wanted to be true to our roots,” he said, adding that “a naturally-aspirated engine with a combination of electric components, according to our feeling, adds weight without really improving the performance so much.”
That doesn’t mean Ferrari believes electric motors are only useful to move windows and wipers. The company is working on its first series-produced electric car, an enigmatic model tentatively due out by the end of 2025, and early details are beginning to trickle out. Executives stress that the EV will be a “true Ferrari,” which is hardly a surprise — can you imagine one of them saying it’s going to be a bogus Ferrari?
Carando told Australian website Drive that his team isn’t concerned with making the fastest or quickest EV on the planet. “We have never been following speed as a key reason for [marketing] our cars,” he said. “We want to have a fast, agile, and fun car to drive.”
While some brands leverage an electric drivetrain’s silence as a major selling point, Ferrari believes its EVs should make noise. It won’t be a fake noise that mimics a V12 or a V8, however. It will be “authentic,” Carando said, which suggests it will be tailored to some aspect of an electric drivetrain’s operation. The motor’s whine, perhaps? Other details, like the segment that the EV will fall in, also remain to be seen.
Ferrari isn’t going 100% electric. It expects that, in 2030, EVs will represent about 40% of its sales. Plug-in hybrids will represent 40% as well while the remaining 20% will be non-electrified gasoline-powered cars. As for what’s next, it depends on regulations and on market demand.
“It’s going to be the clients who decide whether to buy an internal-combustion natural [non-hybrid] engine, a plug-in hybrid, or an EV.”