Until now, the idea of a Ferrari SUV hasn’t risen above rumor. At one point, Fiat Chrysler and Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne responded to questions about such a vehicle by saying, “You have to shoot me first.” Did anyone else just hear the sound of a round clicking into the chamber? During a conference call following Ferrari’s release of its quarterly financial report, Marchionne had this to say about the SUV market: “That space is too big and too inviting.” To be clear, as reported by Automotive News, he was speaking for the Ferrari brand. Buckle in; Ferrari’s preparing to produce an SUV.
The gun-to-the-head metaphor is a good one for the orgy of dollar signs developing in the budding ultraluxury-SUV segment. There’s too much money to be made following Bentley, Rolls-Royce, and Lamborghini unto the breach for Ferrari to ignore. Bemoan the idea all you want, but Ferrari exists to make money. Why would its greed fail to match that of its owners?
For now, the Italian sports-car maker’s board hasn’t made a final decision regarding the not-a-sports-car, although Marchionne certainly has an idea of what form it might take. He doesn’t want the brand to build an SUV similar to Bentley’s Bentayga, Porsche’s Cayenne, and others. We take that to mean the Ferrari SUV will be a tallish utility vehicle that isn’t boxy or particularly utilitarian. Expect it to seat at least four humans, offer all-wheel drive, and look appropriately exotic. Think Lamborghini’s upcoming Urus, which also will need to straddle its maker’s sports-car reputation while capitulating to wealthy buyers’ obsession with tall cars.
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