One of the most anticipated auto releases of the year has finally taken place. Ferrari’s first-ever SUV, although they claim it is not an SUV – has been presented to the public, after some years of speculation about its name, look, and impact on the brand’s reputation and sales. This is one of the very few vehicles that both the press and the financial world (credit rating agencies) are paying attention to. It means a lot for Ferrari.
Leaving aside the technical specs and the design of the Purosangue, this vehicle puts Ferrari in a totally different segment. Although the brand does not consider it an SUV, it is clear that this new product is the answer from Ferrari to the SUV boom that extended to upper luxury segments. Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin and Lamborghini are part of it.
The F-SUV segment
I call it the luxury F-SUV segment and last year it found more than 14,200 new clients. They include those buying the Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Urus, Aston Martin DBX, and Rolls-Royce Cullinan. Their combined sales increased by 40% compared to 2020, and they are expected to grow even more in 2022. The four models, with different pricing and positioning, recorded double-digit growth, with the Aston Martin up by more than 400%.
These super SUVs are mainly sold in USA-Canada, where 31% of the global volume in 2021, remained. The demand there increased by 46% to more than 4,400 units. Their second largest market was China with more than 3,700 units, up by 23%.
Europe came third with 3,622 units, up by 33% vs 2020. Among these markets, the UK led counting for 40% of the European total, followed by Germany with 26% share, Switzerland with 6.3%, Italy with 5.1%, and France with 3.0%.
In terms of their market penetration within the SUV sales, Monaco took the leadership as they represented 4.8% of the volume. The European micro-state was followed by Singapore (0.8%), San Marino (0.5%), Andorra (0.4%) and Qatar (0.3%).
The right positioning
Based on the little information and the official pictures provided by Ferrari, the Purosangue seems to be the right product with a high potential. First of all, the positioning as another sport-car for four passengers aims to align the new vehicle with the rest of the lineup, and not as a totally different Ferrari.
And unlike its closest rivals, Ferrari decided to focus more on performance than on the utility. I mean, there is more “Sport” than “Utility” in this SUV. You can tell this from the limited interior space, the four seats instead of five, and the traditional Ferrari dashboard. In fact, there are more things in common between the Purosangue and the rest of the sport cars, than any would think.
That’s why I think this new Ferrari will hit hard the segment and become a new protagonist of the industry.
More industry reports by the numbers:
The author of the article, Felipe Munoz, is an Automotive Industry Specialist at JATO Dynamics.