[dotancohen]

  > To me, the exterior has lost almost all of Ferrari's identity. It's a nice car-design, but if you'd tell me it's a Hyundai, Lexus or BYD I would believe you.

I think that is the idea. Ferrari presented a plausible EV exterior, albeit one that will not appeal to Ferrari's target market (and budget). The resulting non-sales could be used to justify the position that Ferrari's target market is not interested in EVs, should the need arise.

[rickdeckard]

But justify to who?

Ferrari already got their exception from the EU regulation for CO² reduction via the E-Fuel loophole, which was tailored for them and allows them to continue selling V8 and V12 ICE-based cars beyond 2036 if they only use synthetic e-fuels.

This secures their existing business model for customers who insist on ICE-based cars and are willing to pay the premium for it.

A portion of their addressable market shifts to EV-based sports cars though, they are shooting themselves into the foot by not establishing a BOLD identity in this space soon. A bland product with a "we used to be big in ICE" brand won't cut it there

[Volker-E]

Wasn't tailored for Ferrari, or at least not for Ferrari alone. Porsche is a much bigger player revenue – 5x the annual revenue.

[rickdeckard]

it was created after lobbying/intervention of Italy and Germany, so yes, also for Porsche.

But Porsche has a much wider palette of cars, if ICEs would be banned without exception they could adapt.

Their concern was that Ferrari could be exempted entirely from the regulation due to their low total volume, with Porsche ending up unable to compete on ICE sports cars with them because they're no longer allowed to build one.

Hence the "Ferrari loophole". Not just for Ferrari, but BECAUSE of Ferrari

[mattlondon]

I thought a similar thing too.

"Look, we tried to create an EV and no one bought it. So we need to retain that carve-out in the regulations that mean we do not have to electrify our entire product line or we will go out of business entirely."

I'd totally buy this car if it looked like that and was from a mainstream manufacturer (i.e. priced normally), but yeah I cannot see a typical ferrari owner buying one.

[aenis]

Its a divorce car. You get to keep your real ferrari(s), and buy her one of those. Good for school/grocery runs, has the right badge, probably will drive like a normal car. There exists a demography for those kinds of cars. Lots of people dont care one bit about the style, its all about the brand. (I doubt anyone would consider Bentley SuVs as good looking, for instance - yet they seel well).

[dotancohen]

That was the deal with the Aston Martin Cygnus as well. It wasn't meant for enthusiasts. It was generally sold to wives who bought them alone - much to the fury of husbands later that day. Some Aston Martin salesman once mentioned this in an interview, mentioning that otherwise there was no way to move that vehicle.

[Cyan488]

> Aston Martin Cygnus

Googling this ruined my day

[w4der]

Wasn't the Cygnus just an emissions compliance vehicle?

[dotancohen]

They still had to sell it.

[dontlaugh]

There’s nothing wrong with them going out of business either, though.