Lamborghini repeated this approach at the launch of the Urus, rolling out multiple models of the LM002, the ‘world’s first luxury SUV’, accompanied by the #SinceWeMadeItPossible statement, a narrative akin to a political election campaign. The Santa’Agata-based supercar maker asserts the Urus is the world’s first Super Sports Utility Vehicle, and the VW Group has proven to have the vision and the commitment to make it happen.
The Urus and Bentayga are the perfect exponents of brand-infused engineering: taking the essence of brand DNA and injecting it into the obvious characteristics of an SUV — speed, capability, comfort and security. With these two models in mind, we can begin to imagine the properties that need to be crafted and engineered into the Ferrari SUV.
The level of success will depend on whether or not the holistic experience has the traits of Ferrari familiarity, answering the questions posed by the senses.
The Ferrari FUV
From a design and use case perspective, the SUV has proven its worth; extreme proportions that convey power, strength and importance and performance engineering for varying levels of capability. Even the Land Rover brand’s products have shed their once agricultural characteristics and military harshness to perform with a suitable amount of comfort, speed and refinement.
But a Ferrari is different. They are a very different kind of car and perhaps the embodiment of all that a sports car has to be. The company has said it itself: a vehicle that reflects the Cavallino Rampante, chasing the checkered flag down.
The Ferrari must be a driver’s car. It must provide a living connection between the road and the driver’s pounding heart, seamlessly uninterrupted and not numbed by grasping hands. Driving one is very much a visceral experience consisting of extreme speed and noise. The noise is so very important that every Ferrari delivers a rasping, sharp sound reminiscent of a high-revving V12, mimicked even in the more popular V8s that now dominate their product lineup.
A Ferrari is a car that holds your attention physically and emotionally. The whole experience of walking toward, starting, driving and walking away again is intense. Every element of a Ferrari design is about confidence and bravado. A Ferrari wears a taut skin that gives the impression of a thoroughbred racehorse lurking just beneath the surface. So to apply this to a Ferrari SUV — or FUV — will be a substantial task indeed. But here’s the thing: they’ve already done it and we didn’t even notice.
Ferrari has already made two SUVs, the FF and its replacement, the GTC4 Lusso. Though not in the traditional typology sense, these two cars are SUVs. They seat four and have trunk space to compliment. And with an intelligent all-wheel-drive system, they certainly deliver on the capability side too (minus the ground clearance).
The fascinating thing about these two cars is that they gave us a beautiful and tantalizing flavor of what is to come; they showed a more interesting solution for safe, rapid and extreme movement over a changing and difficult world ahead. The only parts missing are the proportions, muscularity and sense of utter protection. But then speed is protection also; escaping the threat of what may chase us.
Just as the recently revealed Lamborghini Urus, the idea of an SUV made by Ferrari is about the sheer delight of ownership. It will be a rare interpretation of the most established performance car stable; the owner will be able to parade an almost mythical breed of what we thought we knew. Volume is important, but the Ferrari Personalization Program will be the way to retain exclusivity for the owner and the viewer alike.
An Emotional Solution to our Logical Needs
Why is the SUV such a sought after product for consumers and, ultimately, brands? That question can be answered simply: it delivers a very important emotion — security.
We live in difficult times, a fear of threat, a fear of exposure and a never-ending need to protect what is important to us, our family and all that we believe in. Cars are secure bubbles, safe spaces away from the maddening crowd.
The most successful SUVs isolate us very well. With high beltlines, robust shoulders and shallow DLOs to suit, there’s a feeling of shutting out the world. Their iron-bar grilles adorned with meshed-fence graphics provide a barrier between the aggressor outside and the sumptuous calmness within.
Range Rover in Morocco (2013). Photo: Eric Gallina
SUVs are the automotive antidote to a world we don’t feel completely comfortable with. They deliver a narrative of superiority and create a sense of belonging at the top of the pile. When we climb aboard to those higher seats we really are running to higher ground, away from the flood of unpredictability.
Extreme points perhaps, but every car we choose is about hiding or promoting something. Power. Prestige. Safety. Economy. Wealth. It’s why we choose cars by their brand aura, shape and color.
The SUV is a product of consumer demand, just like the go anywhere Rolls-Royce made for the Maharajas. We’ll see this again with the new Cullinan: a ‘high-bodied’ Rolls-Royce; a road carriage in the sky. Extremely powerful and highly capable, able to move at great speed through challenging streets and dynamic terrain, the premium — supersports or superluxury — SUV is the club Ferrari wants to join.
There’s no doubt Ferrari will make the SUV it’s own, resplendent of the company’s heritage, of handcrafted passions, and of beautiful and capable speed.
Now we just need to wait for it.
