A hybrid Ferrari? Don�t rule it out

[Plex]

Governments around the world are bowing down to public pressure to reduce the levels of greenhouse gases their respective countries produce, and more often than not, the first sector they look at is the auto industry. The European Council has proposed a ruling that could see carmaker�s forced to limit fleet averages for CO2 levels at 130g/km by as early as 2012, something that could have disastrous effects for niche players like Ferrari. In fact, the changes have Ferrari so worried that engineers for both its F1 division and road-going cars are hard at work developing methods to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of its engines.

Ferrari management have maintained that any reduction of CO2 levels will not come at the cost of performance but recognize that they have a tough challenge on their hands. Ferrari technical director Amadeo Felisa, who spoke with El Mundo Motor, explains that the reduction of polluting emissions is a major burden on resources and that when developing the 599 GTB last year, engineers were forced to seek a balance between outright performance and lower emissions.

To meet anything close to 130g/km, Felisa admits it will be extremely difficult using current technology. Instead, Ferrari will turn to its F1 engineers to find a more suitable solution for the prancing horse brand but will also distribute part of its CO2 quotas with that of Fiat Group.

Finally, Ferrari would also consider turning to alternative methods of cutting emissions but according to the director of product development, Massimo Fumarola, Ferrari would �never make a low range model, nor reduce the levels of performance the price of its cars demand, or make motors that run on biofuel or diesel.� However, Fumarola didn�t rule out the option of using hybrid or direct injection technology, or possibly brake-energy regeneration.

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