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By Gwladys Fouche
OSLO (Reuters) - Ferrari Chief Executive Benedetto Vigna said on Tuesday the Italian luxury sportscar maker would always develop key components for its vehicles internally, as it prepares to launch its first fully electric car later this year.
Breaking its tradition of roaring petrol engines, Ferrari will unveil its first fully electric car on October 9 in its hometown of Maranello, after it started to offer hybrid-electric models in 2019.
Speculation spread last week over a possible cooperation between Ferrari and Chinese EV maker Leapmotor on more potential Ferrari EV models, after Leapmotor CEO Zhu Jiangming posted a selfie with Vigna on his social media account, saying he hoped there could be more communication and cooperation between the two companies.
Vigna, a former microchip industry top executive, visited Leapmotor twice this year as part of his business trips to China. He said he retained many "friends" all over the world from his previous job experience, especially in the EV sector.
"Do we have some Chinese suppliers? Yes. Are they making strategic components? No," Vigna said in an interview with Bloomberg TV during a Norges Bank event in Oslo.
"I think that there is nothing more than that".
Leapmotor last week clarified that there were no ongoing talks with Ferrari.
Vigna told Reuters on Tuesday that Ferrari does not develop "platforms", which are technological architectures that can underpin several vehicle models.
"Our cars are unique, not platform-based," he said, adding Ferrari doesn't buy platforms from external partners.
"And number three, strategic components will always be kept in-house. They have been, they are, and they will be always under our control," he said.
Vigna said the company already had collaborations on non-strategic components with Chinese, European, American, Japanese and other Asian partners.
"When it comes to non-strategic components, we go and select the right partners," he said.
Vigna has said crucial components for Ferrari EV cars include electric motors and axles but not battery packs.
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo and Giulio Piovaccari in Milan; writing by Giulio Piovaccari; editing by Giulia Segreti and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)