Ferrari has launched a new supercar, and purists will be dismayed to hear it’s electric. Not fully electric, but a plug-in hybrid. To add insult to injury, this car doesn’t have a V8 or V12 engine either, but a V6. Some readers may now turn redder than the Italian brand’s usual livery and decide never to see another Ferrari again. Is this the beginning of the end for another gasoline era icon?
The Ferrari 296 GTB will be the company’s second plug-in hybrid supercar.
Ferrari
First, let’s take a look at the details of this new Ferrari – the 296 GTB. This car combines a 663 hp three-liter V6 turbo engine with a 167 hp electric motor and a 7.45 kWh battery, giving an all-electric range of 26 miles and a total output of 830 hp. The result is a car that can sprint to 100 km / h in 2.9 seconds and reach a top speed of over 206 km / h. That’s fast, but no different than the more conventional 2019 F8 Tributo, which uses a turbocharged V8 with no electrification.
Ferrari’s press release on the 296 GTB goes out of its way to explain that the car’s V6 sound has “V12 harmonic orders”. This is sure to cause concern for Ferrari enthusiasts. One of the features that EV skeptics worry about is the lack of an engine soundtrack, and a V6 isn’t as special a sound as a V8 or V12. It is worth noting, however, that while this is Ferrari’s first road V6, it has a considerable tradition of using V6 engines in its racing cars, right up to the 1957 1500 Dino 156 F2 and even the 246 F1 that did it made possible Mike Hawthorn wins the 1958 F1 driver championship title. The modern Ferrari F1 car has been using a turbocharged V6 and hybrid powertrain since 2014.
The LaFerrari was Ferrari’s first foray into hybrid propulsion technology for its road vehicles. (Photo … [+]
Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Nor is this Ferrari’s first street hybrid. Ferrari has been experimenting with the technology since the launch of the LaFerrari in 2013. This hybrid hypercar combines a 789 hp 6.2 liter V12 with an electric motor that adds an additional 161 hp, but only for short periods of time. It had no purely electric driving ability and only used the additional power to achieve a sprint speed of under three seconds from 0 to 100 km / h. In 2019 Ferrari went one step further and produced its first plug-in hybrid, the SF90 Stradale, which is a 769 hp V8 with 217 hp from three electric motors and a 7.9 kWh battery with an all-electric range of 26 miles combined.
The additional electric motors not only provide a boost for acceleration, although the SF90 Stradale can reach 100 km / h in an unbelievable 2.5 seconds. The hybrid drive is obviously there to give Ferrari’s cars a chance to survive in the face of increasingly stringent environmental regulations. Ferrari has not yet disclosed the emissions of the 296 GTB, but the SF90 Stradale is rated at 154g / km CO2, almost half of the 292g / km the F8 Tributo has. It’s likely that the 296 GTB will get even cleaner.
The SF90 Stradale made its debut with plug-in hybrid technology for Ferrari’s road vehicles. (Photo by Martyn … [+]
Getty Images
However, emissions regulations are only getting stricter and hybrids will soon no longer meet the requirements. Plug-in hybrids are also notoriously as economical as their reviews suggest, unless their owners actually plug them in and regularly charge them. Otherwise, their emissions could even be worse than with a mild hybrid due to the extra weight. The PHEVs are viewed as a bit of a racket by some as they are often bought by fleets to meet CO2 rules with no intention of ever charging them.
Sooner or later, however, the writing for Ferrari petrol will be on the wall, and the company reluctantly has to know that. Ferrari has promised to produce its first all-electric model by 2025, which is likely to make the purists even more frenzied. Even that might not be soon enough as electric hypercars hit the market that can even blow the incredible SF90 Stradale out of the water. The Rimac Nevera is slated to hit the roads before 2025, and there’s the Pininfarina Battista that shares the same powertrain. Both promise 0-60mph capabilities under two seconds. Then there’s the Tesla Roadster 2.0, which (if it arrives) could deliver similar capabilities for much less than the Ferrari 296 GTB. The latter starts at $ 320,000, but Tesla claims the Roadster 2.0 will cost $ 200,000.
The Ferrari 296 GTB will soon be followed by a fully electric super sports car in 2025.
Ferrari
The Ferrari 296 GTB looks amazing and will almost certainly drive as well as it looks. It will surely have a lot of fans. But it’s also a sign that the legendary Italian company is starting to see the typeface for its traditional, gas-guzzling powertrains. Instead of reducing a few more to four cylinders for its next vehicle, Ferrari has to bite the bullet and deliver on the promise of an all-electric car in 2025. Otherwise, it might not just lag behind in terms of performance.
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