Ferrari, the maker of exquisite Italian sports cars, now wants to make an SUV: Here's why

Think Ferrari and you think exquisite, low-slung Italian sports cars and Formula 1 racing. Ferrari is synonymous with nothing else. That might soon change, however. [caption id=“attachment_3892623” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A Ferrari GTC4Lusso[/caption] The car world is rife with speculation that Ferrari is indeed working on a crossover or SUV type vehicle, which one website thinks is the F16X (they even have a render of the, frankly, hideous vehicle), but we weren’t sure if we wanted to believe said rumours. Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne, however, confirmed Ferrari’s intention of exploring the SUV and crossover market at an investor call held on 3 August. Investors were reportedly unhappy that such a move would compromise the brand’s exclusivity. Wheels 24 reports that Marchionne did his best to convince investors that such a vehicle “would be unique” and that it would happen “in Ferrari style”. He claimed that Ferrari has been able to “redefine and define segments of the auto space” in the past, the report adds. The Ferrari CEO’s argument is that the SUV market is simply too big to ignore. The surprises don’t end there. The CEO further explained that he intends to transform the brand into a luxury goods maker and branch off into areas like leather wear. Car, which originally reported on the F16X concept, claim that the vehicle will have an aluminium body and that it will be a ‘soft-roader’ with support for all-wheel drive. The closest vehicle that Ferrari has to a crossover or SUV is the GTC4Lusso, which is a shooting-brake coupe. Car’s render looks remarkably like the GTC4Lusso.