Ferrari hybrid still coming

The new Ferrari Roma will not be given a hybrid powertrain at any point in its life cycle, Ferrari has admitted.

Despite rumours of a hybrid V6 powertrain for the junior Ferrari, the circa-$400K Ferrari Roma will retain a V8-only stance for the foreseeable future, Ferrari’s commercial boss Enrico Galliera said at the launch last week.

“Could we do a hybrid or plug-in hybrid variant of the Roma?” he responded to questioning.

“We are able to electrify the platform, but we are not foreseeing right now to hybridise this model.

“We would never do it on the same model.”

Ferrari technical director Michael Leiters agreed with Galliera, insisting the Roma’s front-mid-engined, rear-drive layout was preconceived and pre-engineered to accept hybrid power.

But Galliera’s answer is the most intriguing, suggesting yet another new Ferrari model [it has launched five in an unprecedented surge this year] would arrive with hybrid power instead of uprating and ‘greening’ the Roma.

It wouldn’t be Ferrari’s first hybrid, though. The LaFerrari hypercar was technically a hybrid, but more importantly the upcoming Ferrari SF90 Stradale is a plug-in hybrid with a claimed 25km of pure EV running range.

Its set-up gives a strong hint of how a second hybrid Ferrari in the range would look like. The SF90 Stradale could cost up to $A1.5 million by the time it lands, so the three e-motor/V8 biturbo set-up might be cheapened up by the time a junior hybrid lands.

The Ferrari SF90 runs to 100km/h in just 2.5 seconds and to 200km/h in a scarcely credible 6.7 seconds thanks to a 736kW combined power figure.

It’s not the only electrification on its way to the sports car world. Lotus has both EVs and a hybrid in the works, and had an experimental range-extender 414E Evora prototype on the road in 2010.

BMW clearly has its i8 as a flagship plug-in hybrid and Honda has its NSX, all well south of the hypercar Porsche 918 Spider, the McLaren P1 and the LaFerrari.

McLaren has announced that its entire range will be hybridised by 2025, while Lamborghini will introduce a plug-in hybrid version of the Urus, leaving its sports cars alone.

It’s a path Porsche has already trodden, leaving electrification largely off its sports cars and leaving hybrid power for the heavier Cayenne, Panamera and Macan.

Jaguar has plans for an electric version of its next F-TYPE, Volvo’s new Polestar 1 is a plug-in hybrid and Maserati has hybrid and EV plans for next year.

The Ferrari Roma won’t have any of that. It sits on the same modular architecture as the folding-hardtop convertible Portofino, which confirms any hybridisation of the Roma’s powertrain would only come via a third model from the architecture.

That could lead to unprecedented production and development efficiencies at Ferrari, with variants of the twin-turbo V8 powering at least six sports cars.

Whatever the hybrid sports car turns out to be, it won’t arrive next year. Galliera agreed Ferrari was a bit “launched out” for the time being.

“We committed to introduce 15 new models in the five-year plan, and now we’ve done five. Something will happen in the future [with hybridisation].

“But it will not happen next year. 2020 for us is a year of consolidation.

“We have just introduced five new cars, and some of them are in new segments, with new challenges.

“2020 will not have the same innovation rate, but will be about consolidating the success for the models we have introduced since 2018.”

In trying to link the Roma to Rome’s La Dolce Vita era, Ferrari was effectively creating a niche for its junior sports car that might have been filled by the Dino in the 1970s.

"It’s for people who would love to drive a sports car or a Ferrari, but might be a bit afraid of one,” Galliera said.

"This car will attract people who have never driven a sports car, who drive something less aggressive and now want something a bit more extreme."