Ferrari's recently-confirmed SUV named Project Purosangue will be coming to Australia. And it's all but certain to become the Italian brand's top-selling model.
Ferrari Australasia chief executive, Herbert Appleroth, told motoring.com.au the new SUV will be coming to Australia and although he wouldn’t talk about the time frame, the local boss reckons Project Purosangue will be a game-changer.
"News in, every new Ferrari brings great excitement and the Purosangue is no different. Now that a timeline to reality has been provided, we expect that excitement to intensify," Appleroth proffered.
"Every new Ferrari released on the Australian market has had great appeal and popularity. The Purosangue is expected to be particularly popular in markets like Australia which have an appetite for luxury sport utility vehicles," he said.
Few details have been released on the new Ferrari SUV, save for its project name (and that it will have more ground clearance than any Ferrari before it), but the jacked-up Fezza will almost certainly be powered by a turbo-charged V8 hybrid powertrain.
Ferrari insists that hybrid sports cars (helped by the new SUV) will account for around half of its total global sales by 2021.
For the Purosangue to be competitive with its likely closest rival (the $390,000 Lamborghini Urus), the Ferrari SUV will need to deliver around 500kW and proper sporst car performance.
Although unlikely to be the fastest Ferrari on offer, the SUV is almost guaranteed to be the brand's top seller.
The Urus has only recorded two registrations Down Under at the time of publication, but the 478kW/850Nm twin-turbo V8 weapon is expected to pile on more sales as stock arrives over the Australia summer and into 2019.
Like that vehicle, the Ferrari SUV will be sharp-edged by SUV standards but not by sports cars.
"As has been the case with the Ferrari California, Portofino and GTC4 Lusso, our GT-focused models are most important models as they provide the highest portion of new-to-Ferrari clients to our family," said Appleroth.
Ferrari sales in Australia went up by 26 per cent in the first three quarters of 2018, from 134 sales last year to 169 thus far. This is significantly ahead of Lamborghini and brand's like Aston Martin.
And the name? Purosangue is Italian for pure blood or, when applied to horses, thoroughbred.