Maranello (Italy) (AFP) – Ferrari’s first electric sports car, to be released next year, will be a four-seat coupe with over 1,000 horsepower and a range of 530 kilometres (329 miles), the company announced Thursday. Named “Elettrica”, the new Ferrari is primarily targeted at wealthy customers “who want to drive only electric cars and want to live the Ferrari experience,” Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna said during a presentation to investors and the media at the company’s factory in Maranello.
But Ferrari has no intention of going all-electric with its portfolio anytime soon. “It’s an addition (to the lineup), not a transition,” Vigna said. The company did not disclose a selling price for the car, but analysts say Ferrari will need to carefully position it in relation to the nearly 500,000 euros ($580,500) base price of its Purosangue SUV. Ferrari already sells nearly half of its cars in hybrid versions, but until now has not made the shift to electric, coming several years after Porsche, Lamborghini, Lotus, and the very fast Rimac.
Ferrari’s management unveiled the car’s architecture on Wednesday evening, with a very low driving position in a recycled aluminium chassis with a large motor on each of the four wheels. As expected from Ferrari, the Elettrica promises to be fast, going from zero to 100 kilometres per hour in 2.5 seconds with a maximum speed of 310 km/h, but the choice of a four-seater model puts it behind some of its competitors.
The classic Ferrari shift paddles on the steering wheel will be used on the Elettrica to opt between a smooth or sporty driving style, modulating the power of the motors and the suspension control. In an homage to large gasoline engines, the Elettrica offers a simulated downshift, while the purr of the traditional engines will be replaced with an amplified sound from the electric motor. That will “give information” to the driver about the feel of the road, explained Gianmaria Fulgenzi, product director at Ferrari.
“It’s like choosing between a sailboat and a motorboat: both are exciting but in different ways,” he said. The brand has taken on the costly development of most of the technical innovations internally, particularly the integrated battery pack, “because keeping that expert knowledge in-house means we can stay competitive,” he said. The final model is due to be unveiled in early 2026.
On Thursday morning, Ferrari is set to give hundreds of investors and financial analysts invited to Maranello details of its strategy for the coming years. The aim is to protect its significant profit margins (which in the first half of 2025 were 23.4 percent) in the rapidly changing automotive and luxury sectors.
© 2024 AFP
