Ferrari hybrid at least five years away

Italian supercar maker Ferrari is inching ever closer to having hybrid technology in its cars.

But don't hold your breath, as it is still at least five years away.

"It's closer to 2015 than 2020," Ferrari's engine man Vittorio Dini told the Carsales Network during a media test drive in Maranello last week.

But he refused to say which side of 2015 Ferrari was aiming for. It has been well documented that Ferrari has had hybrid drivetrains on its test benches for about a year now, but is still yet to fit it to a car. Indeed, Ferrari is yet to decide how big the electric motor and battery pack should be in its cars.

When asked if Ferrari was working on a hybrid system similar to the Toyota Prius, which can move from rest on electric power alone, Dini shrugged and replied: "We don't know yet. We are looking at all the options. Should Ferrari have a sound when it is turned on? Some customers think yes."

Another insider also revealed that Ferrari has tested a Toyota Prius extensively and the world's biggest selling hybrid has become part of its engineering fleet. But Ferrari has also tested other hybrid systems, the source said. A fully electric Ferrari has so far been ruled out, he added.

At the 2009 Geneva motor show the boss of Ferrari, Luca di Montezemolo, took journalists by surprise when he admitted Ferrari was investigating hybrid power. In the same interview he said that Ferraris emit less pollution than Toyota Priuses do because Ferrari sells fewer cars, about 5000 annually compared to a tally of more than one million Priuses over the past 10 years.

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