The decision to offer a broad mix of powertrains, including its new EV, is not about tech, according to Ferrari.
Ferrari has committed to offering a mix of petrol, hybrid and fully-electric powertrains across its line-up for the foreseeable future.
CEO Benedetto Vigna framed the strategy to media in recent months not as a transition away from internal-combustion engines, but as a broadening of the brand to retain customers who would otherwise leave.
"We have IC (internal combustion), we have the hybrid, and we have the electric. Full stop. Then the client can pick up whatever they want," said Vigna.
"There are clients that are telling us, ‘I will become your client if and only if you have an electric traction car. Otherwise, I will not take an IC because I have to be consistent with the messaging that I’m giving to my son and my daughter."
Vigna described Ferrari’s approach to innovation as "emotion-driven", as opposed to what he calls 'technology push', where a technology is selected, and uses are found for it, rather than the other way around.
His argument is that by the time customers are asking for a technology, someone else has already offered it. "If you wait for the client to ask for that, it’s too late."
It is a contrast to the paths taken by other prestige European manufacturers in recent years, who have committed to electric-only futures, only to walk back their plans as consumer demand proved more complicated than anticipated.
Ferrari's three-track approach hedges against that uncertainty, while making clear that no powertrain – and no customer – is being abandoned.
On the question of whether the fastest Ferrari ever made might one day be electric, as is already the case at Porsche, whose Taycan Turbo GT is currently the brand’s quickest road car, Vigna declined to draw a line.
"I think that it does not matter which technology you use, as long as you deliver something that the people are in love with," the executive said.
The new, fully-electric Ferrari Luce produces up to 772kW, and claims a 2.5-second 0-100km/h sprint time, which is in line with the plug-in hybrid 849 Testarossa on power but under the brand’s F80 'halo' hypercar, at 883kW.
What Ferrari will not deliver, however, regardless of powertrain, is a car designed to drive itself.
"We will not make fully autonomous cars — loud and clear. We want the people to have fun, not the [computer] chips," said Vigna.
Vigna confirmed Ferrari will continue to develop technology such as adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning, which he notes are technically forms of autonomous driving.
However, he maintains that Level 3 autonomy and above, where the car can operate independently of driver input, is not part of the company’s roadmap.
"When I talk about autonomous cars, I talk about L3+. We want to have a steering wheel and a man or a woman behind the steering wheel. Otherwise, why do you buy a Ferrari?"
The comments come as rival luxury brands, including Mercedes-Benz and BMW, have begun introducing supervised self-driving capability to their flagship models.
The new Mercedes-Benz S-Class, for example, now supports turn-by-turn supervised self-driving at what Mercedes describes as Level 2++ autonomy in select markets, where the driver is still legally in control, but the vehicle requires little human input in most circumstances.
With over 20 years of experience in digital publishing, James Ward has worked within the automotive landscape since 2007 and brings experience from the publishing, manufacturer and lifestyle side of the industry together to spearhead Drive's multi-media content direction.
