Ferrari has turned up the heat on the Purosangue with the addition of a new Handling Speciale pack.
The new option brings a revised calibration for the SUV's adaptive suspension that is said to make it notably tauter, reducing body roll by 10%.
It also adjusts the mapping of the automatic gearbox to exaggerate shifts, with greater emphasis in the Race and ESC-Off modes. When changing gears manually, shifts are exaggerated from 5500rpm onwards.
Additionally, more V12 engine sound is pumped through to the cabin on start-up and while accelerating compared with standard.
A Purosangue with the Handling Speciale pack is marked out by new diamond-cut wheels, carbonfibre side skirts and a black prancing horse badge on its rear end.
Inside, ‘Handling Speciale’ plaques are mounted behind the rear seats and a matching graphic can be found along the doorsills.
A Purosangue in Handling Speciale specification costs €430,000 (£407,000) in Italy.
Autocar already regarded the Purosangue as the best driver’s SUV when it arrived in 2023, beating the Aston Martin DBX 707 in a shootout on its merit as a driver’s car. But several sporting rivals have since arrived, including a new DBX S (which outpunches the Purosangue by 2bhp, at 717bhp), the Range Rover Sport SV and the Bentley Bentayga Speed.
In further stiffening the Purosangue, it appears that Ferrari is hoping to defend its position as the class leader.
