Enthusiasts should be very pleased.
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Ferrari is, to put it simply, phenomenally successful. They make a huge profit on every car they sell, and have a higher market cap than major manufacturers like Hyundai. That financial success insulates Ferrari from needing to hop on the latest trend. Ferrari is only just getting around to unveiling its first SUV, the Purosangue, four years after Lamborghini put the Urus into production.
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While other luxury brands are pledging to go all-electric by the end of the decade, Ferrari will only get around to producing their first electric car by 2025. Such a car will mark a significant transition from high-powered V8s and V12s. A recent Ferrari patent uncovered by The Drive suggests Ferrari fans won’t have much to worry about.
The patent itself is unambiguously titled “Electric or Hybrid Sports Car,” and the design sketches show a vehicle that looks very much like a Ferrari: a sporty, low-riding two-seater sports car. A modular battery pack behind the passengers mimics the weight distribution of a rear-mid-engine layout. It would sit angling upward to the rear to provide cooling and extra downforce. There would also be locations for additional battery packs on the floor.
The system depicted would also work as a hybrid setup, though not in the traditional way one might expect. For a hybrid application, the vehicle would keep the centrally located battery pack and stuff a (likely quite compact) internal combustion engine in either the rear or front compartments.
We’re already seeing the stigma around electric cars erode much faster than manufacturers like Ford anticipated. So we can expect that by 2025 a Ferrari that runs on battery power won’t be too much of a logical hurdle. And if the eventual car looks fabulous and Ferrari-like, has a prancing horse badge and is blisteringly quick, buyers will embrace it. With companies like Lexus getting into the electric supercar game, it probably will feel weird if Ferrari doesn’t have an electric car by that point.
Keyword: Ferrari Is Going Electric, but This New Patent Proves You Shouldn't Worry