Ferrari’s first plug-in hybrid sports car is also the most powerful Ferrari production car ever.
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The Ferrari SF90 Stradale has a 3.9-liter V8 engine and three electric motors that, together, can produce as much as 986 horsepower. Two of the motors drive the car’s front wheels while the third is attached to the gasoline engine mounted behind the seats. It also has an eight-speed transmission similar to that in a Formula 1 racecar.
The SF90 will be able to go from zero to 60 miles an hour in a little over two seconds and reach a top speed of 211 miles an hour. The car can be driven in full electric mode for up to 15 miles and can go as fast as 84 miles an hour using just its electric motors. Normally, the car will operate as a hybrid, though, relying on both the gasoline engine and electric motors.
The first cars are expected to be delivered to customers at the beginning of next year.
Ferrari has made hybrid cars before but not a plug-in hybrid. Hybrid cars have electric motors and batteries that are charged using energy from the car’s gasoline engine and from braking. A plug-in hybrid can also be charged through an electrical cable like a fully electric car.
The first Ferrari hybrid was the LaFerrari introduced in 2013, and the second was the LaFerrari Aperta convertible unveiled in 2016. Those cars cost, before options, $1.4 million and $2.2 million, respectively. Ferrari has not yet announced pricing for the SF90 but, while still very expensive, it will cost less than those cars.
The LaFerrari hybrids had V12 engines and, with assistance from electric motors, produced a total of 950 horsepower. The new SF90 produces even more total power with a V8 engine.
Unlike most cars, the SF90 does not have a large computer screen in the center of its dashboard. Instead, all the digital displays are in front of the driver where the gauges and other information, like navigation, are all shown together.
In general, the SF90 is designed so that the driver has to move his or her hands from the steering wheel as little as possible, according to Ferrari. There are touch-sensitive surfaces on the steering wheel instead of buttons for things like the engine’s start-stop switch and other controls. There are also touch-sensitive surfaces on the dashboard within easy reach of the steering wheel for things like climate control and mirror adjustments. As usual for a Ferrari, there are no separate stalks for the windsheild wipers or headlight controls. Instead those are also integrated into the steering wheel.
The car also has a head-up display that projects information onto the windshield in front of the driver.
The SF90 will be Ferrari’s new top-of-the-line “production car.” In Ferrari’s terms, a production car is not one of those unique one-off cars costing millions of dollars made specifically for selected clients. It is also not, like the LaFerrari models, a limited-edition car of which only a few hundred will ever be made. Instead, it is part of the brand’s regular lineup.
