Ferrari CEO flatly rules out diesels

The Germans are embracing diesels wholeheartedly, and many of the Fiat Group's companies have a standing relationship with the oily fuel, but Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa has ruled out any move toward the technology, at least within the next five years, and probably beyond that.

"Diesel is not a direction in which we want to go," said Felisa last week, reports the Telegraph. "It is not in our five-year strategic plan and I don't think diesel is an answer to the problem."

Efficiency concerns that worry larger-volume carmakers such as Porsche, Mercedes and Audi havent' had as important a place at Ferrari. Even with the new California, planned to be Ferrari's biggest seller ever, total volume is expected to be well under the 10,000 vehicle mark annually, but the company has a self-set goal of cutting CO2 emissions by 40% by 2012. That would lower the average from around 400g/km to the 250g/km range.

Cutting back displacement and adding forced induction is one possible alternative, and has been discussed for a range of vehicles, including the next halo supercar and the F430 replacement from the Italian maker. Already Ferrari is engineering improvements into its cars, with the California ranking as the greenest ever for the marque. Shaving weight, maximizing aerodynamic efficiency and other engineering work will be used to make the most of the petrol engine at Ferrari.