Ferrari Hybrid: Because California Cares

Look! It's a Plug-In Ferrari. Oh Wait, It's Just a Toy.
(Image Credits: hobbytron.com)

In this Autocar Online posting, Ferrari announces that their first hybrid car 'is likely to be a V12.' The stated reason, according to Ferrari president Amadeo Felisa:

"California will be the model that drives our innovations," he said, "because we feel its customers are more concerned about these things."

As my peers put it, to which 'things' is Mr. Felisa referring? Hybrid vehicles? V12 engines? Precisely why does Ferrari need a hybrid vehicle? Most importantly, why does Ferrari need a hybrid engined V12? Presumably, to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for the brand, it would be possible to sell enough hybrid engined V8s to offset the consumption of the paltry few V12s that Ferrari sell. For example, the last V12 engined Ferrari was the Enzo. During its three year production run, only 400 examples were sold worldwide.

Let's cut through the marketing-speak to the motivations behind what Mr. Felisa is saying:

1. The possibility alone of a hybrid Ferrari keeps Ferrari relevant, both technologically and psychologically. There has been an awful lot of talk about how the 'supercar age' is on the wane. By incorporating 'green' technologies like hybrid drive into sports cars, the sports car companies show that they are not completely out of touch. However, the absurdity of a hybrid V12 engine shows that reality isn't mixed in the Kool-Aid in Maranello.
2. California is a huge market for Ferrari. Back in the 1980s, when emissions and crash standards were introduced in the United States, Ferraris and Lamborghinis were sold on the gray market to bypass federalization requirements. If California continues its tack of having more stringent emissions requirements than the rest of the nation, Ferrari could quickly find itself legislated out of one of its primary revenue sources. That is simply unacceptable from an economic standpoint.

I applaud Mr. Felisa's carefully chosen words; decidedly free from the 'greenwashing' rhetoric that seems to color so much of what's going on at Frankfurt. As the industry continues to struggle for relevance, its anamolous brands like Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Porsche will find it continually more difficult to justify their own existence. Whether hybrid sports cars provide that grounding is uncertain, but let's hope for clearer statements in the future.