Ferrari’s line-up might never be fully electric

Electric cars might be the future of the car industry, but this is creating a problem for performance car brands where the evocative sound of their engines is a key selling point.

Ferrari is one such company, and in a recent earnings call, CEO Louis Camilleri said he doesn’t expect the Italian supercar maker to ever have a fully electric model line-up.

He said: “There should be cost savings longer term as battery technologies improve as well. However, my own sense is that, you know, to sort of say 100 per cent electric, that’s pushing things.

“I really don’t see Ferrari ever being at 100 per cent EV and certainly not in my lifetime will reach even 50 per cent.”

The 65-year-old said the sound of the engine is ‘one of the key elements’ that draws buyers to the brand, according to consumer research. However, he would not be drawn on commenting on this ‘for competitive reasons’ but did confirm ‘that’s one element we’re working on’.

As reported by Jalopnik, Camilleri also claimed that Ferrari is in a unique position with its carbon footprint, ‘because if you take the V12 Ferrari that only runs 3,000 kilometres per year, it probably has less emissions than a very small car that runs every day’.

Although EVs are unlikely to become prominent in the Ferrari range, the company has been working to electrify its new cars. In 2013, it released the LaFerrari hypercar, which paired an electric motor with a petrol V12 engine, while the SF90 recently went on sale as the firm’s first plug-in hybrid model.

Ferrari’s third-quarter financial figures show the company has not been too badly affected by the coronavirus crisis. Its net revenues were €888 million (circa £799m), which is down three per cent on the same period in 2019, while business revenues were up 2.6 per cent, driven by deliveries of the Ferrari Monza SP1 and SP2.