Turbos and Hybrids Are In Ferrari's Future

The balance act of performance and emissions is difficult to say in the least, but Ferrari thinks they have figured it out. According to Vittorio Dini, Ferrari's Powertrain Director, the company plans on increasing performance while reducing CO2 emissions by 20 percent by 2021.

"Our average CO2 emissions are currently about 270 grams of CO2 per kilometer. We want to use all the available technologies to reduce emissions by 3 percent each year, which means approximately a 20 percent decrease by 2021," Dini said to Automotive News Europe.

How does the company plan on pulling this feat off? By using turbocharging and hybrid systems. Ferrari is turning to downsized V8 engines paired with turbochargers. Case in point is the 2015 California T which traded in a 4.3L V8 making 484 horsepower to a 3.9L turbocharged V8 producing 552 horsepower. As for CO2 emissions, the change in engines saw emissions drop from 299g/km to 250g/km.

As for V12 engines, Dini said the company looked at turbocharging. The idea was nixed after it was decided that it would take four turbos to provide the same punch, which causes packaging and heat dissipation problems. Instead, the company will utilize hybrid technology for their V12s.

Source: Automotive News Europe (Subscription Required)

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.