Ferrari chief executive Benedetto Vigna has defended the ₹5.4 crore price tag on the Luce, the Italian carmaker’s first fully electric vehicle, saying the model has attracted strong interest from new ultra-wealthy customers despite an 8 per cent share price drop following its unveiling.
Speaking at a round table in Modena on Thursday, Vigna said the cost reflected the genuine innovation embodied in the car and sought to separate the Luce from other electric vehicles on the market. “You have to see Luce to understand that it has nothing to do with Chinese EVs or those by other brands,” he said.
Vigna reportedly said the cost of the manufacturer’s new Luce model was a fair price to pay for innovation.
The Luce was unveiled on Monday and immediately triggered a wave of criticism from investors, former Ferrari insiders and Italian politicians, making it one of the most contested product launches in the company’s history.
What Is the Ferrari Luce and Why Is It So Controversial?
The Luce, pronounced “loo-chey” and meaning “light” in Italian, is Ferrari’s first five-seater car and only its second four-door model. It can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in approximately 2.5 seconds and reaches a top speed of around 192 miles per hour, with an electric motor powering each wheel.
The design was entrusted to, the former chief design officer at Apple, in collaboration with designer Marc Newson. Ferrari said all components were developed and manufactured in-house at its Maranello facility.
The visual result departs sharply from Ferrari’s traditional design language. The car rides on a battery skateboard platform that raises its roofline to within four centimetres of the company’s SUV, the, and 40 centimetres higher than its hybrid F80 sports car.
The exterior employs a minimalist aesthetic that conceals the spoilers, fins and air vents that typically define performance car styling, with a flowing rear shape and a front section in which what appears to be a bonnet is in fact a suspended wing.
Angus MacKenzie, international bureau chief at MotorTrend magazine, said the interior focus on tactile controls and digital dials would prove influential across the industry, and that despite the unconventional exterior, “what’s underneath is futureproof” for the company.
Who Has Criticised the Ferrari Luce?
The backlash has come from prominent figures both inside and outside the automotive industry.
Luca di Montezemolo, who led Ferrari for 23 years until 2014, gave some of the most pointed criticism. “If I had to say what I really think, I would be hurting Ferrari,” he told Italian media, before continuing: “We’re risking the destruction of a legend, and I’m truly sorry about that. I hope they at least remove the prancing horse logo.” Di Montezemolo joined the board of rival McLaren Group Holdings last year.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini also weighed in on X. “Electric, outrageously expensive (550 thousand euros!) and, from an aesthetic point of view, it speaks for itself,” he wrote. “It looks like anything but a car from the Prancing Horse. And this is supposed to be ‘innovation’? Who knows what Enzo Ferrari would say.”
What Ferrari’s CEO Said in Defence of the Luce
and to attract buyers beyond Ferrari’s traditional customer base, while remaining firmly within the ultra-wealthy segment. He told CNBC earlier in the week that the Luce represented “a very, very important day” for the company and the opening of “a new chapter.”
On the question of whether the Luce would alienate existing customers, Vigna said: “Look, when you do a new technology, you need always to keep in mind a word that is called respect. Respect of the technology, because when you have a new technology, you need to make sure that that technology is properly represented in the design, so the design must be different.”
Vigna also pushed back against the suggestion that Ferrari was abandoning combustion engines, stressing that the Luce did not signal a wholesale shift to electrification across the company’s lineup.
Auto analysts have broadly downplayed the investor reaction, describing it as too early to draw firm conclusions from.
Who Will Buy a $640,000 Ferrari Electric Car?
Ferrari has indicated the Luce is partly aimed at its growing Chinese customer base, which represents the world’s largest market for electric vehicles. Vigna told investors earlier in the month that one of the cars due to launch this year was designed to fit better within the company’s portfolio for that market.
Rhodri Darch, co-chief executive of Everrati, a British company that produces electric conversions of classic cars for high-net-worth buyers, said he believed Ferrari would find a ready audience. ” that has a broader appeal than just sports cars,” Darch said. “100% it will not be for everybody. And that’s OK.” He identified three likely buyer profiles: petrolheads transitioning to electric vehicles, technology founders, and buyers drawn to understated luxury.
The skateboard platform has created considerably more interior space than traditional Ferrari models, including a fifth seat and the elimination of the transmission tunnel that typically divides rear passengers in performance cars, giving the Luce a family-car practicality that is new to the Ferrari lineup.
Ferrari’s share price fell 8 per cent on Tuesday following the unveiling, closed down 0.1 per cent on Wednesday and was trading up 1.3 per cent on Thursday.