Skip to main content

Ferrari’s SF90 Stradale, its most powerful road car ever, is a plug-in hybrid

The launch of a new Ferrari always generates some excitement, but this time the Prancing Horse is really giving car fans a reason to stand up and take notice. The SF90 Stradale isn’t just another outrageous supercar — it truly breaks new ground for Ferrari. It’s the first production Ferrari plug-in hybrid, as well as the most powerful Ferrari road car ever.

Recommended Videos

Ferrari previously tried out electrification with the LaFerrari, which had relatively limited electric assist, but didn’t have a plug. The SF90 Stradale sports a 7.9-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack, allowing it to drive on electric power alone for up to 16 miles, according to Ferrari. The SF90 Stradale is also a series production model, rather than a limited edition like the LaFerrari.

The Stradale’s plug-in hybrid powertrain is built around a modified version of the 3.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8 from Ferrari’s 488-series cars, which makes 769 horsepower on its own. The V8 works with three electric motors. One is attached to the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, providing 148 hp. Two more sit up front, one powering each front wheel, contributing a combined 84 hp and giving the SF90 Stradale all-wheel drive. Output from the motors is limited by the capabilities of the battery pack, meaning they can only provide up to 217 hp at a time. That still gives the SF90 Stradale a total system output of 986 hp — a smidge more than the LaFerrari’s 949 hp.

Ferrari admitted that the plug-in hybrid powertrain added 595 pounds over a conventional internal-combustion powertrain, but the automaker said extensive use of aluminum and carbon fiber helped counteract that, bringing the final curb weight to 3,461 pounds — slightly less than the LaFerrari. With more power and less weight, it’s not surprising that the SF90 Stradale was able to lap Ferrari’s Fiorano test track a full second faster than the LaFerrari. However, the LaFerrari’s 217 mph top speed trumps the Stradale’s 211 mph maximum velocity. Ferrari claims the SF90 Stradale will do zero to 62 mph in 2.5 seconds, but doesn’t list a specific time for the LaFerrari.

On the inside, the dashboard is dominated by a 16-inch curved display that replaces the traditional gauge cluster and also handles infotainment functions. You won’t find a central touchscreen here, but the Stradale does feature capacitive touch pads for navigating the main display’s menus, as well as a head-up display. Despite all of the digital tech, Ferrari still relied on analog controls for many functions. Buttons on the steering wheel control everything from driving modes to the windshield wipers. A rotary switch, which Ferrari said was inspired by the steering-wheel switches in Formula One race cars, sets the cruise control.

The SF90 Stradale shows how far Ferrari has come. The “SF90” in its name is a reference the 90th anniversary of the Ferrari race team (Scuderia Ferrari), which predates the road-car business. “Stradale” is Italian for “road,” because this is, after all, a road car. While Ferrari hasn’t had much success in racing recently, the high-tech, plug-in hybrid SF90 Stradale shows that the brand still has a future in an age of stricter emissions standards and greater environmental consciousness, not to mention fierce competition from a new crop of hybrid supercars like the Aston Martin Valkyrie and Mercedes-AMG One.

Updated on May 29, 2019: Added full details and photos of the Ferrari SF90 Stradale.

Stephen Edelstein
Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…
Audi halts vehicle deliveries to the U.S. as it mulls impact of tariffs
2021 Audi Q5

If you’d been thinking of buying an Audi, now might be the time.  The German brand, owned by the Volkswagen Group, has announced it would halt shipments to the U.S. in the wake of President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on all imported vehicles.
Audi is currently holding cars that arrived after the tariffs took effect, on April 3, in U.S. ports. But it still has around 37,000 vehicles in its U.S. inventory, which should be able to meet demand for about two months, according to Reuters.
Automakers on average hold enough cars to meet U.S. demand for about three months, according to Cox Automotive.
Audi should be particularly affected by the tariffs: The Q5, its best-selling model in the U.S., is produced in Mexico, while other models, such as the A3, A4, and A6 are produced in Germany.
Holding shipments is obviously a temporary measure to buy time for Audi and parent company Volkswagen. If tariffs stay in place, vehicle prices would likely have to go up accordingly, unless some production is shifted to the U.S. Volkswagen already has a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is planning a new plant in South Carolina. That latter plant, however, isn’t expected to be operational until 2027 and is currently dedicated to building electric vehicles for VW’s Scout Motors brand.
Other global automakers have also taken drastic measures in response to Trump’s tariffs. Jaguar Land Rover on April 5 said it is pausing shipments of its its UK-made cars to the United States this month. The British sports-luxury vehicle maker noted that the U.S. market accounts for nearly a quarter of its global sales, led by the likes of Range Rover Sports, Defenders, and Jaguar F-PACE.
And on April 3, Nissan, the biggest Japanese vehicle exporter to the United States, announced it will stop taking new U.S. orders for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs, the QX50 and QX55.

Read more
Waymo faces questions about its use of onboard cameras for AI training, ads targeting
Two people exit a Waymo taxi.

In an iconic scene from the 2002 sci-fi film Minority Report, on-the-run Agent John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, struggles to walk through a mall as he’s targeted by a multitude of personalized ads from the likes of Lexus, Guinness and American Express, everytime hidden detectors identify his eyes.
It was clearly meant as a warning about a not-so-desirable dystopian future.
Yet, 23 years later that future is at least partlially here in the online world and threatens to spread to other areas of daily life which are increasingly ‘connected’, such as the inside of cars. And the new testing grounds, according to online security researcher Jane Manchun Wong, might very well be automated-driving vehicles, such as Waymo’s robotaxis.
On X, Wong unveiled an unreleased version of Waymo’s privacy policy that suggests the California-based company is preparing to use data from its robotaxis, including interior cameras, to train generative AI models and to offer targetted ads.
“Waymo may share data to improve and analyze its functionality and to tailor products, services, ads, and offers to your interests,” the Waymo’s unreleased privacy statement reads. “You can opt out of sharing your information with third parties, unless it’s necessary to the functioning of the service.”
Asked for comments about the unreleased app update, Waymo told The Verge that it contained “placeholder text that doesn’t accurately reflect the feature’s purpose”.
Waymo’s AI-models “are not designed to use this data to identify individual people, and there are no plans to use this data for targeted ads,” spokesperson Julia Ilina said.
Waymo’s robotaxis, which are operating on the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, do contain onboard cameras that monitor riders. But Ilina says these are mainly used to train AI models for safety, finding lost items, check that in-car rules are followed, and to improve the service.
The new feature is still under development and offers riders an opportunity to opt out of data collection, Ilina says.
But as we all get used to ads targeting based on everything that’s somehow connected to the web, it seems a once-distant vision of the future may be just around the corner.

Read more
Waymo’s driverless cars are about to begin an overseas adventure
Waymo Jaguar I-Pace

Waymo’s autonomous cars are about to appear on streets outside of the U.S. for the first time.

The company on Wednesday announced on social media that its autonomous cars will be driving onto the streets of Tokyo, Japan, “soon,” with some reports suggesting the rollout will begin as early as next week.

Read more