Yes, you read that right: Ferrari has announced its first SUV. It’s called the Purosangue and, unsurprisingly, it’s not your regular Sport Utility Vehicle. With a front-mid-mounted 6.5 liter V12 and 715Hp of torque, the new car’s specs definitely scream Ferrari. The Purosangue design, on the other hand, will inevitably ignite a love or hate it reaction among the fans of the Maranello company.

According to Ferrari, the car is just “unique on the world stage” and “the culmination of 75 years of leading-edge research”. “Not only do performance, driving pleasure, and comfort coexist in perfect harmony, but it is also a peerless encapsulation of the Prancing Horse’s iconic DNA,” says the company in its marketing materials. “This is the reason why the name Purosangue, Italian for ‘thoroughbred’, was chosen.”

The naming itself is interesting. By saying that the car is a “pure blood” (as in horses, not as in eugenics), Ferrari wanted to put the whole weight of its brand behind the decision to make an SUV. Word gymnastics are scattered all over the company’s presentation of the new car. The rear suicide doors, one of the more exciting design elements of the new car, have been renamed “welcome doors”, which “facilitate the ingress and egress of passengers”. Ferrari’s designers picked this option to keep the car as compact as possible.

For an SUV, the Purosangue looks indeed compact and streamlined. And for Ferrari’s CEO Benedetto Vigna, we shouldn’t even call it an SUV “because it isn’t, it’s a Ferrari”. Vigna has a point: the car looks more like a crossover than a regular SUV. That said, whatever segment this car is going to end up in, it’s still indeed a Ferrari, at least regarding the price. The Purosangue starts at €390.000, and 2000 units have already been pre-ordered. The first deliveries are expected in the first half of 2023.