“You have to shoot me first”, said FCA’s CEO Sergio Marchionne a couple of years ago, when asked whether Ferrari would ever build an SUV.

In the meantime, things have changed, and Marchionne told journalists at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show that Ferrari’s plans now include an SUV, or FUV (Ferrari Utility Vehicle) as he referred to it, AutoExpress reports.

The FCA CEO didn’t go into specific details, but made it clear that “it will look like whatever a Ferrari utility vehicle needs to look like”, adding that “it has to drive like a Ferrari”, too.

By the end of this year, Ferrari will be debt-free, and so an SUV will bring in more profit for the Italian automaker, mostly from Asian markets, including China, while also helping them sell more than 10,000 units annually.

From the Porsche Cayenne to the Bentley Bentayga, the upcoming Rolls-Royce Cullinan and Lamborghini’s Urus, the Ferrari SUV has enough rivals to tackle. However, the Prancing Horse’s future vehicle “has not been made to compete with Porsche”, according to Marchionne, which means its main competitor will be the Urus.

Renderings courtesy of KleberSilva

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