All Terrain Luxury

Sergio Marchionne, the 65-year-old Chairman and Chief Executive of Italian supercar maker Ferrari, created a flutter last month when he said the company was considering products beyond its traditional sports car to double profits by 2022. The takeaway was obvious. Ferrari was mulling a sports utility vehicle or SUV. Puritans in love with the brand's history of superlative rear wheel-driven sports cars were dismayed. Marchionne was quick to add it would be done in Ferrari's style. What that meant was anybody's guess.

Till a few years ago, this would have been considered a catastrophe for the brand. Today, it elicits just a surprise or a smirk or a resigned nod by old timers at cafes outside Ferrari's home at Maranello. That the world's biggest Formula 1 brand would make a car more at ease off the track than on it would