Ferrari's Most Interesting Car In Years Ignores Reality

Ferrari has always been unique in that the company does precisely what it wants at any given time, with little regard for "trivial" things like market climate, prevailing trends, or just plain ol' reality. In an age where supercar manufacturers are firmly committed to hybrids and electrification, Ferrari has the attitude of "been there, done that" as it already made the LaFerrari over a decade ago and moved on to something else. The Ferrari Daytona SP3, the marque's wild supercar, for example, does away with anything approaching "modern" and uses a big V12 as its engine without the help of electric motors, or even forced induction.

Ferrari

The only crack in Ferrari's blithe, market-ignoring guise is the Purosangue, an SUV from a brand that decidedly doesn't make SUVs. Now, Ferrari announced something no Rosso Corsa-clad Ferrari fan would expect, from a company that has shown over the past seven or so decades that it truly doesn't care about anything but Ferrari. It revealed an electric car, the Elettrica, the brand's first ever EV.

On the surface, the Ferrari Elettrica follows a similar formula as other EV supercars like the Rimac Nevera and, strangely, the Rivian R1T Quad-Motor, in that its platform consists on a huge battery and four electric motors, one going to each wheel. Ferrari didn't invent the wheel with the Elettrica, and in fact, it actually borrows parts from other Ferrari cars, like the Ferrari F80. Digging a little deeper, the Elettrica, in typical Ferrari fashion, has been engineered to death to simultaneously be the most Ferrari-like Ferrari to ever Ferrari itself around Maranello and yetr be something entirely new.

Specs-wise, it isn't all that exciting, surprisingly. It's fast, to be sure, with an expected 0-60 time of 2.5 seconds and a top speed of 192 miles per hour, but a Tesla Model S Plaid can accelerate faster than that and a Lucid Air Sapphire has a higher top speed. Range is listed as greater than 320 miles, which is merely competitive with a lot of other EVs. Only the electric drivetrain and suspension parts have been revealed to the public, so Ferrari still has an opportunity to wow the public (and more importantly, Ferrari fans) with styling and how it handles.

The Elettrica ignores reality in two distinct ways. In typical Ferrari fashion, it's ignoring the timing of an EV launch. If Ferrari was doing it for an environmentally conscious or compliance reason, it would have announced the Elettrica five years ago when other brands were hopping on the trend like Porsche with its Taycan or the entire advent of Rimac. But Ferrari didn't do that. 

Instead, the Elettrica will arrive in 2026 in an environment where general EV sentiment has slowed and some manufacturers (like Stellantis in the case of the electric Ram truck) are cancelling EVs entirely. Full electrification is still likely going to be the future of cars, but the timeline of that future is getting a little harder to predict. 

Secondly, Ferrari is ignoring the reality of its whole ethos as a brand. By committing to an electric car, it will likely alienate a few diehard fans in the process. That's not to say you can't innovate and be exciting with an EV: the existence of the aforementioned Lucid Air Sapphire and Rimac Nevera disprove that. But, Ferrari's whole vibe is doing whatever it wants whenever it want. This is the same brand that has gone through great lengths to gift the sitting Pope a supercar every once in a while. Even though the Pontiff is famously is not permitted to drive.

Whenever the Elettrica launches and hits the pavement, it will be a number of different things. It will be an incredibly advanced piece of tech for Ferrari. It will be expensive and almost certainly painted red. And, most importantly, it will be a Ferrari. The Ferrari-ness isn't detracted because it uses electrons for fuel instead of gasoline. Maranello is still making it right in the heart of Italy. None of that is changing. However, all of those factors can't negate the fact that it's a deeply confusing car. 

Ferrari never follows trends except for when it wants to. It never acknowledges the reality of the current landscape, except when it wants to. And it never makes electric cars... except for when it wants to. In a lot of ways that are purely technical, the Ferrari Elettrica is unlike anything Ferrari has done before. In spirit, however, it's the most Ferrari move it could have made.