Top: 2017 Ferrari Toro magazine ad
Bottom: 2023 Ferrari Toro IDERC entry
In 2016, after getting their asses handed to them by Ford a SECOND time, Ferrari decided to poke the hornet’s nest by designing and releasing a UTE-style vehicle, of all things. Built off of the chassis and bodywork of one of their existing cars, the Toro was set to be a fusion of a sporty supercar and a robust UTE. And it was!…in the worst way possible. The pitiful performance for a supercar coupled with the hideous design drove away the sports car crowd, and the fairly high price tag for a car with an abysmal carrying capacity alienated the pickup truck crowd. Less than 20 units were sold, with the excess inventory being disassembled for parts or recycled. The car was by all means a failure in every facet, but for the engineers and designers, the experience of designing something new and out-of-the-box was…exhilarating. Ferrari would soon re-use the Toro name in their 2023 IDERC Manufacturer’s Division entry, which took the form of a high-powered dune-buggy like vehicle designed to be both comfortable and powerful. Who knows, maybe they’ll finally beat Ford this time? Only time will tell…
