Ferrari quietly revs up for mostly hybrid cars by 2022

"By 2022, nearly 60 percent of the models we produce will be built around hybrid powertrains," new CEO Louis Camilleri said at the company's Maranello headquarters.

The company known for its low-slung aerodynamic sports cars will also launch its first SUV -- Purosangue -- after the end of the current business plan in 2022.

Gas-guzzling Ferraris are faced with more and more anti-emission regulations around the world, as well as increasingly environmentally-aware would-be owners.

The company will increasingly make hybrid cars "as the years unfold to meet specific regulatory requirements but also to satisfy customer desires for significantly improved emissions while retaining the driving emotions that render Ferraris simply unique," he said.

Ferrari has been making the limited-edition hybrid LaFerrari for several years, which it has described as offering the most extreme performance ever achieved by one of its production cars.

Ferrari stock tumbled 8 percent in August as investors wondered if the company could stay on track for its profit targets after the death of historic boss Sergio Marchionne.

Announcing the SUV, former Philip Morris boss Camilleri said he initially abhorred the idea.

"It just does not sit well with our brand and all that it represents," he admitted, but insisted that the new design will "redefine expectations".

It will be "elegant, powerful, versatile, comfortable, spacious... in all respects worthy of the Ferrari badge," he said.

Marchionne had announced a Sport Utility Vehicle in January, a four-wheel-drive urban luxury car for the end of 2019 or early 2020.

He insisted on calling the new vehicle a "Ferrari Utility Vehicle" or FUV.

Ferrari faces the challenge of increasing profits while not ramping up production, which could decrease the brand's exclusive allure.

The company will launch 15 new models by 2022, Chief Marketing Officer Enrico Galliera announced, with a "significant" increase in the average price. DM