Ferrari promises 'stirring' engine sound for first electric supercar

NEW YORK/BERLIN: Ferrari's first electric supercar, still under wraps ahead of its planned launch in late 2025, is set to sound like its sporty petrol engined siblings and not whistle and whirr like a conventional EV, according to a report.

The Italian marque first announced the car three years ago. It is poised to open a dedicated production line later this in 2024 although many details of the car are still unknown.

Ferrari announced earlier that it was working on fake motor noises but chief executive Benedetto Vigna revealed more when he told US broadcaster CNBC that these "sound signatures" will "stir emotions."

Vigna said the company would maintain its focus on performance, design and driving experience in its EV range, stressing that "electric cars are not silent."

This could be code for a fake exhaust note, either one that emulates the noises made by a real engine or a more unique sound design, which might challenge the idea of what a future sports car should sound like. Ferrari has not specified.

Some petrol cars such as Volkswagen's Golf GTI and R sports variants already have speakers installed which enhance the exhaust rasp to make the car sound more sporty.

So far only Hyundai and Dodge have decided that electric performance cars are best experienced with the familiar audio accompaniment of an exhaust note.

The sound of the Dodge "Fratzonic chambered exhaust" system, set to debut on the Charger Daytona, has not yet been finalised but insiders said early concepts sound something like a synthesized V8 engine.

Hyundai's "N e-shift" system from the Ioniq 5 N goes one step further and actually imitates the torque delivery and gear shifting experience of an internal combustion car.

The system users three user-selectable sound profiles and 10 speakers to play virtual driving sounds. The most aggressive is "Ignition" mode, which plays the sound of a turbocharged Hyundai N petrol engine when the driver presses the accelerator.