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What Would Enzo Say About the Upcoming Ferrari SUV?

Ferrari officials swore the company was never going to resort to building an SUV and for many years they were adamant this wouldn’t change.
Ferrari Purosangue 2 photos
Photo: Andrei Nedelea/Ferrari for autoevolution
Ferrari Purosangue
They denied any and all rumors that they were going to create an SUV, in spite of the fact that more and more automakers not usually associated with SUVs were adding such cars to their range.

The business model for sports car makers, one that called for making an SUV to help fund the creation of a brand’s core models, really did work. It has to be said, though, that Ferrari was doing quite well for itself already and it didn't need to adopt this tactic too.

Porsche proved how effective this idea was with the Cayenne, the model credited with having saved the automaker in the late 1990s (although the Boxster also played a major role).

The Cayenne was seen as an abomination when first launched. Oh how people laughed at the way it looked, calling it all known synonyms of the word ‘ hideous. ’ But Porsche stuck with it, made it better, and now Cayennes are a commonplace sight all over the world and they have become one of the most appreciated luxury SUVs.

It’s not just Porsche, though, because nowadays you can buy an SUV from any number of brands which in the past would not have been associated with this type of model. Maserati makes an SUV, the Levante, Lamborghini makes one too, the Urus, even Aston Martin is on the verge of launching its own - this scenario would have seemed quite implausible a decade ago, yet now it’s become the norm.

Ferrari was one of the last renowned sports car makers to hold back from making a high rider, and it kept denying rumors that it was working on its own SUV. But now the cat is out of the bag - the Prancing Horse really is hard at work developing its first ever SUV, the car it said it would never build.

And in case you were wondering, no, hell has not frozen over, but a certain Enzo Ferrari would probably not be on board with the decision. Enzo’s initial philosophy was that he had to sell road cars in order to fund his racing ambitions, and, later when the road car business took off, he wanted his cars to be pure, lightweight and unencumbered by electronics - remember the F40 is the last car he personally signed off.

Now the brand is building an SUV and it not only goes against what Enzo would most likely have wanted, but it also contradicts what the company has been doing in recent years. One of the measures taken to preserve the brand’s exclusivity and to make it seem somewhat unattainable was to put a production cap on certain models so that they don’t become too common.

An SUV, though, will have much broader appeal in the current market context than Ferrari’s core models, and it will probably sell better than they do. And these core models were already selling well, providing Ferrari with plenty of financial security - the Prancing Horse is doing really well for itself, or, in other words, it doesn’t need an SUV to boost profit margins (like, say, Aston Martin desperately does in order to ensure the future viability of the brand).

Enzo definitely wouldn’t agree with this decision, even if Ferrari’s upcoming SUV, currently known as the Purosangue (which in English translates as thoroughbred, and internally is designated 175’) will live up to its name,  We don’t expect it to be bad - Ferrari would really make a mistake if it produced a mediocre SUV model now that it’s embarked on the journey to make one.

We don’t even know what kind of SUV it will be - it won’t be a traditional SUV, that’s for sure, although we don’t exactly know how it will be different; just that it will be. Under its hood we’ll probably find a range of engines that may include a V6, a V8, a V12 and even a hybrid powertrain. Details are sparse at the moment, but it looks like it will have several powertrain options.

Ferrari Purosangue
Photo: Andrei Nedelea/Ferrari for autoevolution
It’s still at least two years away, though, and based on the fact that Ferrari is only just now testing out high-riding mules (based on the GTC4 Lusso), it’s clear that the project is not at a very advanced stage of development. Until we get a good look at it, here’s what we think it may look like, based on bits of information we’ve gathered and the look of the current Ferrari range.
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