The Ferrari Purosangue Is The Brand’s First SUV In Its 75-Year History

The Ferrari Purosangue has just been unveiled, and it’s the first SUV or crossover to be built by the Italian supercar manufacturer throughout its 75-year history. The brand, however, doesn’t want you to call it a crossover or an SUV. After all, it was a vehicle that they said just a few years ago that they will never build, but here we are in 2022, where a Ferrari-badged SUV has just rolled off the streets of Maranello.

In their defense, the Ferrari Purosangue looks more like a sleek five-door hatchback rather than an SUV. With a height of just 1,589 mm, it’s indeed more of a crossover rather than a tall SUV like the Lamborghini Urus. Still, its 4,973 mm long body draws heavily from the elegantly-designed Roma. The swoopy body features a pinched mid-section that gives this crossover a very athletic stance–probably one of the most beautiful even in its segment.

Of course, being a crossover, it does come with black cladding, albeit more subtle compared to most mainstream models. In addition, the Purosangue rides on 22-inch wheels at the front and 23-inches at the rear.

Moving inside the cabin, you’ll see a uniquely-design interior that doesn’t come with a center stack. Instead, both the driver and front passenger are treated to their own digital displays. It’s also probably the first Ferrari to have the ability to properly carry four people. Though the FF and GTC4Lusso had four seats, they are hardly considered roomy for rear occupants. Oh, and speaking of those rear seats, they are accessed via rear-hinged suicide doors, just like in a Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

Whereas most of its rivals feature a twin-turbo V8 or even a degree of electrification, the Ferrari Purosangue comes with a naturally-aspirated 6.5-liter V12 that produces a whopping 715 hp and 716 Nm of torque, in which it sings all the way to an 8,250 rpm redline. This sends power to all four wheels via an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic that’s mounted at the rear for better weight distribution. Speaking of which, Ferrari managed to give the Purosangue 49:51 front-to-rear weight distribution despite being a tall-ish crossover.

The only other high-performance SUVs to come with a twelve-cylinder engine are the Bentley Bentayga and Rolls-Royce Cullinan. Even though both feature turbocharging, they fall short of the Purosangue’s horsepower figures. At this point, the Ferrari Purosangue is the most powerful crossover on sale right now, even more powerful than the Aston Martin DBX 707, though their 310 kph top speed is identical. Despite being the most powerful, the new Lamborghini Urus Performante has the same 0-100 kph time as the Purosangue at 3.3 seconds.

The Purosangue is also the first Ferrari to feature hill-descent control, which is of course unnecessary in the brand’s low-slung supercar range. It also comes with electronically-controlled Multimatic spool-valve dampers that mimic anti-roll bars for better handling or for better wheel articulation when going over uneven terrain, However, with its 183 mm ground clearance, the toughest terrain that this thing was probably only designed to encounter is the golf course.

The Ferrari Purosangue is a latecomer to the super crossover SUV segment, but is it worth the wait? Is Ferrari insane enough to follow the crowd and build an SUV in the first place?