Nowadays, the demand for high-riding, four wheel-drive vehicles has swept across the entire globe.
Sports and Luxury SUVs
It wasn’t so long ago that SUVs were the preserve of wealthy land owners, off-road enthusiasts and country-dwelling members of the establishment. Nowadays however, the demand for high-riding, four wheel-drive vehicles has swept across the entire globe.
With an increasingly wealthy society and the ever-reducing cost and size of SUVs, the attraction of added practicality, safety and comfort is hard to ignore. The invention of hugely popular crossovers, essentially high-riding family hatchbacks, has only increased the effect.
This isn’t just a mainstream story however; the trend has expanded into the high-end market too. In fact, if you search for the origins of the modern luxury SUV, you’ll most likely discover the early Range Rover, a vehicle widely recognised as the segment’s first. Almost 50 years after the first Range Rover appeared, the segment is reaching full maturity – even the most long-standing and exotic sports and luxury car makers now offer a SUV, including Porsche, Bentley and very soon, Rolls-Royce.
With Lamborghini, Aston Martin and now Lotus having already confirmed a SUV plan, I fully expect the two remaining non-SUV manufacturers of McLaren and Ferrari to follow suit: McLaren because it would fundamentally change its finances and Ferrari because with shareholder pressure now that it is listed, it would be almost impossible to ignore a new profit potential of approximately 2,000 SUVs at over $100,000 each.
The fact that both McLaren and Ferrari would be joint last to the party, would suggest that it wouldn’t damage either brands’ identity or integrity.
There’s been masses of media speculation around the possibility of a Ferrari SUV (or FUV) of late. With Sergio Marchionne quoted as saying “we’re dead serious about this” by Bloomberg, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an announcement from Maranello in 2018.
But if Ferrari decides against it… I’d like to personally invite F12 owners to come and see us at ARES DESIGN!
Dany Bahar