Special treatment for Italian supercars?

Ferrari CEO and GM Amedeo Felisa recently told UK publication Autocar that his company might have to develop a hybrid supercar to meet European and domestic emissions regulations.

If a business case for a petrol-electric hybrid Ferrari sports car is given the green light, the model could be expected to see the light of day in 2015 or 2016, but Felisa seems unhappy with the idea of diluting Ferrari's bloodline with a 'green' car.

"The issue of emissions for Ferrari is more a political one than a real one," Felisa said.

The Ferrari boss revealed that he didn't think it was reasonable for Ferrari to adhere to impending emissions regulations that require car makers to drastically reduce their carbon footprints, because Ferrari sells a relatively small amount of cars annually.

Is it a case of special privileges for the rich, or are Amedeo's arguments balanced? Ferrari sells very few cars in comparison to the world's largest automakers, such as Toyota, Ford and Volkswagen, for instance.

"Lowering emissions of every Ferrari will not save the planet, but it will cost us a lot of money," explained the straight-talking Felisa.

Arch-rival Porsche is expected to develop its own hybrid supercar in the next handful of years with customer interest in such a model going through the roof , but Ferrari's top brass gives the impression that it is not keen on the idea of hybrid model.

As the Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team celebrated a podium result at Sunday's Formula One GP in Barcelona, with Fernando Alonso finishing in second place as Australia's Mark Webber took out the win, the Prancing Horse's ongoing relationship with hybrid technology appears murky. While Ferrari's CEO is downplaying the chances of a hybrid sports car wearing a Ferrari badge, the marque may not have an alternative to meet long-term environmental laws.

At the 2010 Geneva motor show earlier this year Ferrari revealed a 'green' 599 concept, which took advantage of it's F1-derived KERS, or kinetic energy regeneration system, confirming that Ferrari does have electric powertrain technology under development.

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