Ferrari 'needs' to be involved in Formula E, says CEO Sergio Marchionne

Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne says the Italian car company "needs to be involved" with all-electric series Formula E in the near future.

Last year the Ferrari boss indicated a willingness to join the Formula E grid "a few years from now". Unlike Formula One, the series has been successful in attracting manufacturers, with reigning world champions Mercedes reserving a place on the grid for the 2018/19 season.

Marchionne says Ferrari would learn a lot from the series which could be applied to its road car division.

"We need to be involved in Formula E because electrification via hybridisation is going to be part of our future," Marchionne told FIA publication Auto. "Hybridisation is crucial to Ferrari. There is no denying that regulations put us under pressure, but we could reach those targets in other ways.

"The challenge is to benefit from hybridisation not just in terms of emissions reduction, but also performance. We have already developed a hybrid supercar, La Ferrari, and on future Ferrari models we will leverage new technologies as well as electrification."

BMW will become a Formula E manufacturer from 2018, while Audi, Renault, Jaguar and Citroen's DS brand are also involved. Formula E still has a spot on the grid for a 12th team to join with Mercedes in 2018, though Ferrari joining as a manufacturer before 2022 seems unlikely. If it does not join as a fully-fledged manufacturer then, it could enter a partnership with an existing team, most probably under the Fiat brand.

source:Ferrari 'needs' to be involved in Formula E, says CEO Sergio Marchionne

 

No

 

I can't see anyone paying over $200,000 for an all electric Ferrari. Then again, Ferrari would have to lower its price to compete with others already in this automotive market segment because this is a whole different automobile. I thought I would never see or hear (no pun intended) about reading: an all electric Ferrari AND an all electric F1 Ferrari.
SHOCKING

 

If Italy needs a proper reason to exit the EU, it's this !

 

All electrical Ferrari?? Not for me!!

 

I miss Montezemolo . . .

 

Why do I need a fancy automobile. My horse and carriage never failed me once.

 

Me too

Didn't F1 do away w Grid Girls too ?

 

At the very least, the car should create artificial V-12 sounds that are coordinated with how hard the driver is pressing the accelerator pedal. Just because the car is electric doesn't mean that it shouldn't at least sound like a Ferrari!

 

It is inevitable that Ferrari will one day build Electric cars if it want to be in business, because they will be almost the only vehicles allowed.

I said that on this forum long time ago already.

I cannot see why electric cars couldn't be sporty or luxurious. I presume there will be a niche market for bespoke Italian sports cars in an electric world; I can't see why not.

 

Until the build an electric grid big enough to support millions of cars this will be years from now(try 50+ years)before all electric will be possible. Windmills and solar will not cut it. Nuclear and coal is the only way to do it, and the NIMBYS will all have a baby ....... What's better, petroleum or coal/Nuclear?? Time for a reality check!!! Hybrid yes but pure electric is years away other than for a few tree hugging nut cases.

The sooner sweater boy retires the better.

 

He should be pegged....

 

Technically, we can build an electric grid capable of supporting a fully electric car fleet, using only renewable energy sources.
What is needed is political support.

At the moment, the oil and coal mining companies are lobbying governments to stop the spread of renewable energy which is a threat to their fat profits.
Not only they buy politicians, but they also control the media that brainwash the public.

There is plenty of renewable energy potential which is left untapped because there is no political will, and no tax incentive. Instead, governments encourage investment in drilling, mining, fracking and try to shut up those who object to their policy.

 

And I've yet to.....

Where'd you read/hear this? Link if you will. Thanks....

 

No.

I am absolutely furious--

Look at that Porsche!!!

I'm sorry, guys. I am about to tell you how angry I am--

--and that McLaren!!!!

Huh?

 

Some would be happy if Ferrari went back to building Dinos and Daytonas. Sorry, but I'm not a member of the flat earth society. Things evolve . . Science is there whether we like it or not. Global warming is there whether we like it or not.

 

Most probably all Ferraris will be electric in the future. But that´s going to happen in a FAR future. I don´t see the logic of getting into Formula E now. They should stick to hybrid Formula 1, as all their models will be hybrid in just a few years.

 

+1

Progress like this cannot be stopped, just slowed (Trump, etc.) as it has to happen. I hate the self driving car more than I hate the fully electric car. An electric car is better than burying our head in the sand and ignoring facts (not the cause of global warming but the need to live more efficiently as our population growth is way faster than our energy level growth. We either stop having babies or we have to drop our energy needs per person, the planet cannot keep giving more and more).
Pete

 

This is not science. It marketing.

Never confuse the two.

 

LOL! Like the electric industry isn't looking for "fat profit"????

Really I can't believe how naive some people are about capitalism.

Look-- take every SUV in the world and every sub compact and every family saloon and make them electric.

Just leave the 10,000 or so Ferrari's and Lambo's out of it.

 

YES exactly!

Even just big great dirty busses and trucks and stuff. Have SUV's with batteries and generators onboard so they'll be much cleaner and still have all that torque they yearn and apparently need.

The low amount of sport cars aren't the ones doing the damage, though it's easy to point the finger (because the rich are oh so evil!).

 

+1

It's not only global warming, about which some people have different takes, but about CO2 pollution, toxic fumes in cities, smog, etc... and their detrimental effect on health.

 

+100

 

I am not naïve one bit, but big business doesn't wish to switch its investment from what is still profitable for them, to a new science where the return will not be immediate.

There is as much profit to be made in electricity as in oil, but the transition is uncertain, and the results could be slow to come; we all now that the Stock Exchange hates uncertainty, and prefers to stick to what it know.

Maybe, just maybe the majority of the car fleet will be forced to switch to "non-emission" power, leaving small pockets of cars allowed to run on fossil fuels.

But I suspect that cars with IC engines will be banned from towns, cities and most inhabited areas in most countries. Probably that IC engines will be eliminated through taxation.

 

Someone said it much better than me....

"Look at the new boss. Same as the old boss..."