Ferrari announces its first big car – the Purosangue (not an SUV)

Ferrari, in its 71 years of making luxurious and extremely fast cars, has never had a crossover nor an SUV in its lifetime. But times are changing, and if you’re someone who’s particularly not comfortable with the idea of a high-riding Ferrari, you might want to look away.

The Italian marque has just announced its future plans in its Capital Markets Day, spearheaded by its new CEO Louis Carey Camilleri. Along with its boat-loads of future models (15 to be exact), the Prancing Horse has laid down a card that would make Ferrari purists cringe - a new crossover is in the pipeline and it will be called the Purosangue.

If you’re having a hard time pronouncing the peculiar name, here’s a clip you should hear:

The Purosangue, which is the Italian for thoroughbred, wasn’t an idea that Camilleri embraced with open arms, well, at least initially. It was an idea from the days of the former CEO, the late Sergio Marchionne, which Camilleri was skeptical about at first.

Marchionne saw the Purosangue as a way to respond to the growing demand for high-riding vehicles and the change in customer preferences, particularly in China. He also believed that the variety in the lineup could boost the sales of the Italian marque. After seeing the design sketches of the Purosangue, Camilleri became a supporter of the project. The way we see it, it looks like the all-new crossover will be Marchionne’s legacy for the brand.

The Purosangue will sit on Ferrari’s new Front Mid Engine Architecture (shown above). It will have a front-mounted engine but positioned behind the wheels. The dual-clutch gearbox, on the other hand, will be placed at the rear end. The reason for this setup is the perfect weight distribution that the brand is aiming for in its five-door crossover. It will also support an all-wheel-drive setup, as well as hybrid powertrain options that will boost the rear axle.

While it’s very tempting to call the Purosangue an SUV, as other similar carmakers like Lamborghini was proud of with its Urus Super SUV, it isn’t something that the new CEO would like you to do. In fact, Camilleri is hard-nosed about the usage of that word. "That word [SUV], I do not want to hear it in the same phrase as Ferrari," he said during the presentation of Ferrari’s plans.

The Purosangue is set to arrive by 2022, so you still have time to accept that Ferrari is indeed making a crossover. And again, it’s pronounced as PUR-o-SAN-gue.

Source: Motor1.com