At long last, Ferrari’s first-ever SUV has officially been revealed. The new Ferrari Purosangue takes the iconic Italian marquee in a completely new direction, however, Ferrari is adamant that the new car is not something that plainly sticks to the SUV rulebook. Considering it lands somewhere in the realm of genre-bending GT, complete with a gigantic V12 up-front – it’s not hard to see why.
RELATED: Ferrari Purosangue Leaked: Images Show First-Ever SUV
2023 Ferrari Purosangue | Image: Ferrari
This is indeed the first ever four-door, four-seater car in the Ferrari’s 75-year history and a stronger replacement to the FF/GTC4 Lusso. With the Purosangue (Italian for ‘thoroughbred’), Ferrari took its own sweet time and approached the fast SUV/GT sector with a clean sheet of paper to make its own car stand out from the crowd. A cursory glance at its spec sheet sure suggests that.
Unlike other SUVs, the Purosangue has a mid-front-mounted engine with the gearbox at the rear while the Power Transfer Unit is coupled in front of the engine to provide a 4×4 transmission. This results in 49.51 per cent weight distribution that arrives in a similar fashion to a mid-front-engined sports car.
We must discuss the design and here, it isn’t radical as we thought it would be. The slinkier proportions do match the demeanour of a traditional V12 GT Ferrari, and the sleek and sporty nature opposes the traditionally tall style of most SUVs. The body shell is completely new and is made from aluminium and carbon fibre while the chassis is lighter than the previous 4-seater Ferraris despite the Purosangue being bigger than all of them.
There is also a carbon-fibre roof as standard to keep weight down and lower the centre of gravity while Ferrari has tried to keep the styling as simple as possible while still providing a lot of aero thanks to clever ‘air-curtain’ between the front bumper and wheel arch trim which aerodynamically seals the front wheels.
2023 Ferrari Purosangue | Image: Ferrari
The powertrain is a bit of a surprise since it is a great big V12 with no electrification in sight. It is Ferrari silencing possible critics from the word go it seems. It is a 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 with 715 bhp and 716Nm along with ear plugs as standard, we guess. That said, being a Ferrari with a slightly different focus this time, the engine has the highest amount of torque at low revs possible while this keeping the usual rev-happy V12 histrionics intact. The gearbox is an 8-sped dual-clutch transmission. Performance claims are suitably eyebrow-raising since the big Purosangue will do 0 to 100 km/h in 3.3 s and go from 0 to 200 in 10.6 seconds.
Plenty of technology has been cherry-picked for the Purosangue from newer models like the SF90 to the 812 Competizione. The car gets a complicated new 4WD system, coupled with the new independent 4WS steering trickery. A myriad of complex systems including the Ferrari staple, Side Slip Control system finds its way here but the adjustability along with the options is more with a comfort-focussed approach- there is no ‘race’ mode option for example.
2023 Ferrari Purosangue | Image: Ferrari
Inside, unlike other Ferraris, the attention has been carefully divided between the front two passengers with a massive screen for the front passenger along with a new dashboard layout. A gated manual-like control system is there but above that lies a pop-out climate control knob while the touch-enabled buttons have a cleaner interface now.
Unlike the previous FF or the GTC Lusso, egress/ingress isn’t as inelegant now thanks to cool front-opening rear doors like on a Rolls-Royce while interior space is surprisingly cavernous though Ferrari will keep it as a 4-seater only. As far as reveals go, the new Ferrari Purosangue is one of the biggest in recent memory, however, not for the reasons we initially expected. The body isn’t quite as radical as predicted, however, what’s underneath has us seriously intrigued.
2023 Ferrari Purosangue | Image: Ferrari
2023 Ferrari Purosangue | Image: Ferrari
2023 Ferrari Purosangue | Image: Ferrari
2023 Ferrari Purosangue | Image: Ferrari
2023 Ferrari Purosangue | Image: Ferrari
