Ferrari is maintaining its stance over the V12 engine, which it wants to keep despite the swing towards electrification and the emission standards that have basically foisted all automakers into making hybrids and plug-ins.

According to the company's head of technological development Michael Leiters, the Italian manufacturers will fight for its rights to keep the naturally-aspirated V12

“We will fight for this engine,” he told Top Gear. “We have good ideas for its development. We now have Euro 6 regulations, which forced us to put a particulate filter on the GTS, and there are general emissions and CO2 targets especially for places like China and the United States.”

The particulate filter proved problematic for Leiters and his team as it took the power of the hard-top 812 down, but he considers the engineering done to replace that power his greatest achievement with the GTS.

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via motor1.com

Leiters added that he doesn't know what other companies are doing but he reckons Ferrari is in a unique position as it has the financial and technological resources to keep the V12 alive and within compliance.

Sound, though, could still pose a problem where these intentions are concerned.

“The regulations that arrived one and a half years ago are very challenging for us because it’s not only about the level of noise, but the way you measure it is much stricter," Leiters explained. "This is definitely something that we have to consider as a challenge for the V12.

“The other challenge is more internal. We have reached a level of specific power output which, for a naturally aspirated engine, is huge. Right now, nobody needs 800bhp but everybody wants it. I guess we have to understand how we can enrich the engine and its characteristics in a different way in the future, but still show progress.”

The Italian automakers don't want to give up on the V12 and fans can certainly side with them but it seems like it will be a bit of a challenge although they believe they have the means to pull it off.