Ferrari’s chief technical officer has promised the Italian firm’s upcoming Purosangue will be “a real SUV” while also offering a “huge differentiation of concept to existing SUVs”.

Speaking to Autocar, Michael Leiters said he was “convinced on this car and the technical concept”.

“I think we’ve found a concept and a package which is on one side a real SUV and will convince SUV customers to buy it, but on the other side there’s a huge differentiation of concept to existing SUVs,” Leiters said.

According to the British publication, the Purosangue – which is known internally at Ferrari as the “175” – will be a four-seater measuring “around five metres” long.

“The challenge is to open a new segment for Ferrari. We always have very, very sharp positioning. It helps to develop cars in a certain, focused manner and easily decide certain trade-offs.

“The trade-off decision is totally different for us here. We will have totally new engineering challenges,” he admitted.

“It’s a challenge, an opportunity and fun. I like it very much. Some concepts are close together, but with cars like 175 one thing we want to do is structure the product range and have something different."

Indeed, Leiters said there were many options on the table.

“In the function of different customer requirements, do we need space? Six or eight cylinders? A long wheelbase? So we can offer V6, V8, V12, front or mid-engined, hybrid or not, two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, 2+0, 2+2 or four seats; vary the wheelbase a lot. We’re able to manage very easily and have a very low impact doing it.”

Original article from Car