Benedetto Vigna, the newcomer CEO of Ferrari, has spoken about the future electrification of the brand and what this will mean for its sports cars in a few years. The manager urges the firm’s engineers to build vehicles with a very elaborate dynamics despite the substantial increase in the total weight of the model due to its battery.
Ferrari has taken an important step: starting the roadmap for the total electrification of the company for the coming years. Currently, at Ferrari they already have two plug-in hybrid vehicles in their range, the Ferrari 296 GTB and the SF90 Stradale; both benchmarks of performance and dynamics in their respective sectors.
The CEO of the company admits that this transition towards the electrification of the brand will be a “huge challenge”, since it will be a complete paradigm shift from its origins. However, Vigna argued in a recent interview for CNBC that this should not mean something negative or disturbing, but rather the opposite, since “It can be an exciting path to be able to do something new and distinctive for Ferrari.despite not having a gasoline engine in it,” he said.
However, the top manager of Ferrari hopes that his next fully electric models will stand out for unparalleled dynamics. Thanks to this, they will seek to mitigate the adverse effects caused by the increase in weight due to its battery, an inconvenience that is of particular concern within the firm. “We will have a few hundred kilos more than in a combustion car for the same level of power, but what really reassures me is the fact that we have in-depth knowledge of vehicle dynamics”, Vigna stated during his interview.
On the aspect of differentiation as a brand, Vigna assumed that “more or less, most brands have access to the same chips”, this means that many electric cars may resemble each other, something that will not happen at Ferrari. From the leadership of the brand, they will promote that their engineers and specialists seek maximum differentiation with their own mechanics to “offer something unique and distinctive”. To guarantee this section, the Italian company will manufacture its own batteries, many of them by hand, and later, they will be integrated into the chassis of their vehicles in a process focused on weight reduction and dynamic efficiency.
Benedetto Vigna joined Ferrari a little over a year ago with the clear goal of guiding the company on its path to electrification, having previously held this position at STMicroelectronics, a technology company that manufactures microchips.
Ferrari’s marked roadmap will lead the brand to present its first 100% electric model in 2025. Subsequently, in 2026 they expect 55 percent of their sales to be plug-in hybrid models, while 5 percent of the brand share will go to electric. In the year 2030, its “pure” combustion engine cars will represent just 20 percent of its saleswhile plug-in hybrids and electric ones will cover 40 percent, respectively.
