Italian luxury carmaker Ferrari on Friday inaugurated a new solar-powered factory at the group's historic Maranello site, where its much anticipated wholly electric car should be produced from 2026.

The factory, covering 42,500 square metres and located just north of the current Ferrari campus, will produce the group's legendary combustion engine cars as well as hybrids and the firm's first EV.

Dubbed an "e-building", the rectangular, 25-metre-high factory will be powered in part by more than 3,000 solar panels installed on the roof, producing 1.3 megawatts at their peak.

The aim is for the building to be entirely powered by renewable energy -- both internal and external sources -- by the end of the year.

High-voltage batteries, electric motors and axles will also be produced there, Ferrari said in a statement.

But the most excitement will be over the production of the new electric Ferrari sports car, the design of which is being kept under tight wraps ahead of its launch in 2025.

"It's going to look like nothing you'd expect it to look like," Ferrari chairman John Elkann told a podcast on Wednesday, giving few details but noting that the absence of a normal engine meant more space.