Ferrari's Maranello complex in northern Italy is a pretty cool place. There is a space ship-looking wind tunnel designed by the architect Renzo Piano, you can hop into a Formula One racing simulator, and a short stroll from the main factory, there is a mouth-watering museum filled with shiny supercars such as the 1990s F50.
Now Ferrari is overhauling the site to make battery-powered cars.
On Thursday in Maranello, CEO Benedetto Vigna presented his long-awaited strategy on how to electrify the brand.
Ferrari will invest some 4.4 billion euros ($4.6 billion) to develop full-electric cars and plug-in hybrids that will make up 60 percent of its portfolio by 2026. The company will retool Maranello to produce EVs and assemble battery modules. The first full-electric Ferrari will reach showrooms in three years.
The problem is that Ferrari is a tad late to the party, leaving it well behind not just battery pioneer Tesla but also Porsche and smaller upstarts such as Rimac Automobili. Porsche's popular Taycan EV has been on the road since 2019 and outsold the iconic 911 last year.
Vigna is now eager to catch up. The 53-year-old industry outsider -- he joined from chipmaker STMicroelectronics last year -- has rejiggered several divisions including product development to report directly to him to streamline decision-making.
He has also hired trusted tech executives from his former employer, named a brand director with luxury goods experience, and partnered with chipmaker Qualcomm to work on more digital car cockpits.