Supercar brands search for sustainable performance

Supercar brands are staring into the maw of an existential crisis.

The automakers must find a way to comply with tightening global emissions rules without sacrificing the world-class performance that their one-percenter clientele demands.

Brands from Aston Martin to Rolls-Royce are speeding down different roads to reach that balance.

Aston Martin is racing into the EV era by upping the horsepower of several combustion engine models while also rolling out hybrid and all-electric vehicles.

A deal with Lucid Motors will see the first of Aston's electrified lineup take to the road in late 2025, powered by the same electric motors and batteries used in the Lucid Air, which is capable of more than 1,200 hp and 0 to 60 mph in under 2 seconds.

Maserati is dropping V-8 engines this year as it begins to electrify its lineup. Ferrari's attempt to build a performance legacy in the EV world begins in 2025 when it unveils its first zero-emission model.

Porsche, buoyed by the demand for the electric Taycan fastback, is proving electric motors can match the flat-six in delivering driving thrill and performance.

The German automaker will electrify most of its portfolio this decade and aims for 80 percent of sales to be zero-emission by 2030.

Porsche will activate launch control on its EV transformation next year with a battery-powered version of its bestselling Macan EV. Electric variants of the 718 Cayman and Boxster sports cars and the Cayenne crossover will follow in the next few years.

But Porsche execs vow to retain the guttural growl of the brand's most iconic model — the 911.

"Let me be clear: Our icon, the 911, will have a combustion engine for a long time to come," Porsche CEO Oliver Blume has said.

Porsche is investing in synthetic fuels that could allow the combustion engine to roam in a zero-emission vehicle world to ensure that happens.

Elsewhere in the Volkswagen Group, luxury brand Bentley and supercar brand Lamborghini are charting different paths to eventual EV futures.
Lamborghini's first EV, a 2+2GT similar to the Urus, won't make it to the U.S. before 2028, while Bentley's first EV will arrive two years earlier. Both will take full advantage of the group's platform strategy to cut development costs, but they will stake out their own hand-built versions to usher their respective brand legacies into a new propulsion era.
Hypercar brand McLaren has committed to a hybrid strategy as it transitions to a 100 percent electrified portfolio by 2026. But the automaker isn't ready to commit to battery-only power.

"McLaren doesn't feel EV technology is there," a retailer told Automotive News. "It's an answer, but it's not the answer."

The brand told dealers it is developing a lightweight hybrid system to debut in a new Ultimate Series model in the decade's second half.

The system is about 70 percent lighter than the current generation, said the retailer source, requesting they not be identified.

The powertrain, which includes an in-house developed V-8 engine, "produces much more horsepower and delivers the power more directly to the transmission," the person said.

Ferrari is pursuing plans both into EV segments and into a new internal combustion segment: The Purosangue, soon to debut in the U.S. market, will be Ferrari's first four-door model.

The automaker is calling it a sports car rather than a utility vehicle or crossover, and it will have a V-12 engine that produces 715 hp.

But Rolls-Royce isn't waffling about its commitment to going all-electric by 2030.

The BMW Group subsidiary is the first major ultraluxury brand to launch an EV, putting it ahead of rivals Bentley, Aston and Ferrari.

Rolls-Royce said electric propulsion sits perfectly with the brand's ethos to build fast, silent luxury cars and its development did not require any compromise.

"It's perfect for the brand. It's silent, super torque-y," CEO Torsten Müller- Ötvös told Automotive News Europe.

California EV maker Lucid plans to launch the most exotic version of its Air sedan when the Sapphire variant goes on sale in October.

The three-motor, 1,234-hp Sapphire will come fully loaded at $250,575 with shipping. Lucid estimates acceleration to 60 mph in a blazing 1.89 seconds.

Next year, deliveries of the automaker's first crossover, the three-row Gravity, are expected in the third quarter.