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Ferrari has halved its target for electric vehicle production, stressing the continued need for the internal combustion engine to navigate “uncertain times”.
The Italian luxury carmaker said on Thursday it now aimed to make 20 per cent of its models fully electric by 2030, down from a 40 per cent goal announced three years ago.
Ferrari revealed its downgraded EV ambition as it unveiled core technologies behind its first-ever electric sports car that it said would come with a “roomy” space, high-performing batteries and an electric engine with a distinctive sound.
“As a market leader, we need to make sure that we are able to offer our clients the same driving thrills when they use the ICE or the hybrid or the electric,” chief executive Benedetto Vigna told the Financial Times.
Under its revised plans, 40 per cent of its cars will still be powered by the internal combustion engine by the end of the decade, with another 40 per cent powered by hybrid technology.
For the first half of the year, 53 per cent of its total shipments were petrol models, while the rest were hybrids.
“In a time of uncertainty, there is only one thing that can help you and that is agility,” Vigna said. “There is no other recipe.”
Investors had been eagerly anticipating the launch of the Ferrari Elettrica, which will be delivered from late next year, with rival luxury carmakers such as Aston Martin having delayed the launch of their battery models.
The chassis of the new electric model, which will be made with recycled aluminium, will have an extremely short wheelbase, while the battery will have an energy density of almost 195 watt-hours per kilogramme, according to the company.
Vigna acknowledged some limitations of current EV and battery technology, however, as he explained the company’s decision not to make its first electric model a supercar.
“You cannot make a Ferrari supercar with the electric technology that there is today,” he said.
European carmakers have called on Brussels to loosen its ban from 2035 on the sale of combustion engine vehicles as the industry grapples with higher tariffs in the US and the influx of affordable EVs and hybrids from Chinese rivals.
Ferrari has enjoyed a 40 per cent margin on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation on the back of an increase in buyers adding expensive features to their supercars. So-called personalisation now accounts for about 20 per cent of its annual revenue, although analysts have warned of declining residual values of highly customisable models.
The group has also been able to consistently raise its pricing for successor models and was the first to announce plans in March that it would increase prices for some of its models to counter the US tariffs.
Vigna cautioned that investors should not expect “a continuous drift” of higher prices over the next five years even as the company laid out plans to launch an average of four new cars a year.
“We need to preserve the scarcity of what we do. We want to offer models that are limited in volume but have a bigger variety of models,” he said. “The brand strength is not a shield that is there and lasts forever.”
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