Ferrari Purosangue – Late Joining the SUV Market

Not long ago, we saw most of the sportscar names enter the SUV market but not Ferrari. Now, the Ferrari Purosangue is coming.

Is it too late for Ferrari to grab any part of the exotic SUV market? Have the other boutique brands already taken over? Will we care once we see that an SUV is wearing the prancing horse on the front?

This SUV is a Work in Progress

Unlike our mainstream brands when a high-end automaker with low volume tells us a vehicle is for the next model year, that often means it could arrive anytime during that particular calendar year. The new Ferrari SUV is scheduled to be part of the 2022 mixture and it’s exciting to think that a new vehicle will come out of this brand, but we still have to wait for it.

The Little We Know

So far, we know the Ferrari Purosangue will be a hybrid supercar with a V6 engine under the hood. Correction, hybrid super-SUV, which might be hard to fathom and understand. This vehicle will be entirely different from anything that Ferrari has done in the past and the brand does not want it to be a dog when it arrives. Once it appears, this vehicle may look more Ferrari than SUV to you.

Performance Elements That Couldn’t be Hidden

We don’t know the true body shape or style this SUV will have, the Ferrari team used a Maserati Levante body on the test mule, but we do know the Purosangue will have some serious power under the hood. We can gather this information because the vehicle rides low to the ground and has large gaps in the rear bumper to fit the quad exhaust tips.

This Might Be the Smallest SUV in its Class

The SUVs that have arrived from exotic brands have spanned the spectrum of size but the new Ferrari Purosangue just might be the smallest of the bunch. That shouldn’t come as a big surprise, it is a Ferrari after all. The goal of speed, power, and athleticism are still part of the brand heritage and expectations which means we should see an SUV that is extremely light on the utility part while being heavy on the sport side of things.

The Platform Developed for the Purosangue

The name means “Thoroughbred” and it is meant to create a new set of expectations for the brand. The platform being used is a new front mid-engine architecture that uses a 4WD setup, hybrid powertrains, a dual-clutch transmission, and offers different levels of ground clearance. The most interesting aspect of this might be the fact the engine will be pushed toward the middle of the vehicle and not found at the very front.

This platform was created to be relatively versatile. The Ferrari Purosangue might not be the only SUV that rides on this platform. These underpinnings allow for different wheelbase lengths and seating layouts which hints at more vehicles sharing this same setup. The Purosangue will give you a four-seat layout when it arrives with front occupants seated similar to sports cars and rear passengers, lifted a little higher in the cabin.

Ferrari Wants to Get Aggressive

We expect to see the initial model of this SUV to arrive with a hybrid V6 engine handling the power delivery, but there could be more hardcore versions later. The Ferrari team just might add a V8 or a V12 to go up against some of the models that already give us massive engines and tons of power for the drive.

Has Ferrari Missed the Boat?

Not long ago it seemed we were being bombarded by exotic brands giving us SUVs as an alternative to the supercars they build. Today, we’ve had the Lamborghini Urus, Aston Martin DBX, and Bentley Bentayga in the market for a few years and understand more about them. Will adding one more to the mix make a difference? Will there be a market for this Ferrari that isn’t as utilitarian as some of these other names?

The answers to our questions won’t arrive until after the Ferrari Purosangue is part of the market. Over the next few months, we’re likely to see the final production versions of this vehicle testing on various tracks in Europe. Is it going to be enough of an SUV to attract buyers or is the Purosangue going to come up lame and need to be put down in the end?