LaFerrari

Make
Ferrari
Segment
Coupe

The McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, and LaFerrari all have something in common: electrification. Going this technological route wasn't done only to conserve fuel but also for boosted performance. And yet Ford decided to opt out with electrification for how its new GT supercar would be powered. CarAdvice spoke with GT lead engineer, Jamal Hameedi, who claims that the car will deliver more driver-oriented performance because it's not electrified.

Specifically, Hameedi feels that Ford customers want more than only straight-line performance. "Our enthusiast customers that we can design our cars for, they go to tracks, they live, eat and breath road courses and some do drag strips too, but we would need to give them something more than (straight-line speed)." However, Ford did at one point consider electrifying the GT. "We did consider it," Hameedi revealed. "(But) all those (electrified performance) cars are pretty heavy: the 918, the P1 and LaFerrari are all heavy. We thought for a very pure track car that we could deliver more in terms of driving dynamics without electric power."

For example, Hameedi explained that "if you look at the lap time trace of a 918, they make incredible lap time but they are making their lap time in the straights, not in the corners." Instead, Ford went with the Lotus philosophy: lightweight construction and a powerful twin-turbo V6 with more than 600 hp. "I think there's a lot of people out there that will appreciate (our) different take on that performance," Hameedi summarized.