It’s fair to say that Ferrari has made a habit of flying against the norm, and according to CEO Benedetto Vigna, the Italian automaker has no plans to change course. Speaking at the Financial Times’ “Future of the Car” conference, Vigna touched on where the storied brand is headed in the next few years, including how it plans to address automation and its path to becoming carbon neutral.
Answering the first point, well, it’s a flat-out no. “In a cabin, there are four kinds of software,” Vigna said, according to Insider. “There is performance software, there is comfort software, there is infotainment software, and there is autonomous. The last one, we don’t care.”
Surely the fact that Ferrari — maker of cars known for their driving appeal — isn’t interested in taking control from the driver isn’t all that surprising. And while we can probably see some owners of their less sporty models (*cough*, Purosangue *cough*) appreciate at least some semi-autonomous tech, it would appear Ferrari wants nothing to do with those dark arts. It tracks. Even on the back of record profits that will only climb once deliveries of the sold-out-until-2026 crossover begin, Ferrari’s CEO has committed that the V12 SUV will not exceed 20 percent of shipments.
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When it comes to becoming carbon neutral, Ferrari is putting its weight behind e-fuels in an effort to keep the internal combustion engine alive. And Vigna maintains that Ferrari’s e-fuel plans won’t impact its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2035.
The European Union is planning on phasing out the sale of ICE vehicles from 2035 for mainstream manufacturers and 2036 for low-volume marques such as Ferrari. In March, the EU and Germany agreed to allow cars powered by ICEs to be sold, provided they run on carbon-neutral e-fuels — something that Ferrari has confirmed it’ll be doing, producing ICE-powered cars for the foreseeable future.
Ferrari will also introduce a battery-electric vehicle in the near future, with the company stating last year that fully-electric and hybrid models will make up 80 percent of its lineup by 2030. Ferrari’s CEO also confirmed that the company has the capability to craft the software needed for their EV foray without getting help from a third party.
