Crossover SUVs are big business, as everyone knows. If you’re a carmaker who’s not building an SUV/crossover in line with your brand ethos, you’re not in the game, plain and simple. Enter Ferrari’s Purosangue SUV, the slightly higher-riding, four-wheel-drive super SUV built to transport Charles Leclerc and Mattia Binotta to their next pre-season alpine ski trip safely, comfortably and – by the looks of this latest spy video – very, very quickly.
Ferrari’s long-rumoured and much-maligned first venture into the SUV market has been spotted in many guises while testing. The project started back in 2018 with a mechanically modified Ferrari GTC4 Lusso entrusted with the early running. Then something more closely resembling a low-riding Maserati Levante entered the fray and had testers putting in countless laps at the Nurburgring. Now, there’s this video of a Ferrari test driver giving the Purosangue’s glorious V12 the berries around the firm’s test track.
It’s too early to know from spy shots what the production vehicle will look like, of course, and by all accounts the project has already been delayed and pushed back from its proposed 2020 debut, due to COVID-19 and its associated difficulties. Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne had stressed that the addition of an SUV crossover to Ferrari’s lineup needs to be “absolutely perfect” when it was finally introduced, meaning its development must in no way be rushed.
The only thing rushing, however, appears to be the Ferrari Purosangue itself. If this video is anything to go by, the Lamborghini Urus’s reign as the super SUV might be nearing an end. As carmakers do, it’s understood that this mule is doubling as the test bed for Ferrari’s latest front-mounted, mid-engine platform for future Portofino, Roma and 812 Superfast GT-type models.
It’s also safe to say the architecture will incorporate hybrid technology, with both the V12 and base V8 engines will feature some form of electrification. Much like its FF and GTC4 Lusso predecessors, the Purosangue will feature active four-wheel drive and a transaxle layout with its dual-clutch gearbox at the rear for optimal balance and packaging.
In the same way you’re no body if you’re not selling an SUV crossover, further rumors suggest Ferrari will dip its toe into the world of electric mobility, with its first battery-electric vehicle slated for 2025. This may very well be an SUV, perhaps a variant of the Purosangue. Only time will tell.
