Times are changing at Ferrari, and the turbulence has shaken people close to the brand. Few automakers have lost as much value after a single product launch as Ferrari did on May 25 when the debut of its first electric vehicle prompted shares to drop nearly 8%, erasing more than $4 billion of its market capitalization in a few hours.
The inception of the Ferrari Luce was even more painful to owners than it was to investors, with some describing the murine five-seater as a “gut punch” and “betrayal” that left them dismayed about the lack of the curves and combustion that have defined the brand for almost 80 years. A Ferrari spokesperson declined to comment.
Some compared it to Coca-Cola changing its recipe. Others described their shock as downright ontological, since for them it contradicts self-evident truths about the meaning of Ferrari itself.
“Everybody’s speechless,” says Michelle Ringwald, a cosmetic dentist in Beverly Hills who owns a Ferrari 812 Superfast. “Everybody thinks that it’s comical. It just lacks soul. It doesn’t look like a Ferrari. It looks like a [Nissan] Leaf.”
The $640,000 Luce is the first Ferrari designed with a firm outside Italy, Jony Ive’s LoveFrom, and the former Apple designer’s effect on the car couldn’t be more obvious. Unlike showstoppers with brassy curves like the 12Cilindri, the efficient Luce has the simple lines of a computer mouse.
“It is not just to the right or to the left, it’s totally in another lane,” says David Lee, the prominent Los Angeles collector who paid more than $38 million for a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO in February.
The Luce puts Ferrari in a tricky situation. It helps the company meet strict emissions regulations, especially in Europe, and its techy design could attract a new type of customer, which would help satisfy shareholders eager to see growth in new markets. On May 28, Ferrari NV Chief Executive Officer Benedetto Vigna told Bloomberg the company had already received orders for the car from clients and new customers alike, which came as a surprise considering the widespread negative initial reactions. But the EV is such a pivot from the brand’s chief assets — the emotion of its glamorous designs and roaring combustion engines — that it risks diluting them and alienating a famously loyal ownership base altogether.
“Ferraris are supposed to be sexy and beautiful, and also kind of impractical,” says Joe Richardson, a brand communication consultant who worked with the company from 2010-21. “When you’re shaken by something that makes you question whether or not the dream is real, it gets a visceral reaction.”
Nobody thinks a single debut could topple Ferrari. But as the world’s most coveted car brand works to attract new customers, does it risk forever estranging its existing ones? Does a new EV spell the beginning of the end of Ferrari as we know it?
A history of victory
The rawness of fans’ outrage is proportional to the depth of their devotion, even if most don’t even own a Ferrari. The company delivered fewer than 14,000 vehicles worldwide last year but counts 32.3 million followers on its main Instagram account and 20.4 million more on its Formula One account.
“Just go to any F1 race and watch the Ferrari fans,” says Vince Finaldi, an owner and collector who operates his eponymous restoration shop specializing in Italian makes in Monterey. “It’s like Manchester United fans — they’re rabid.”
Its appeal derives from the gritty mystique of its origin story. Enzo Ferrari started a tiny racing team in 1929, launched his automotive company in 1947, and was soon selling sensual and insouciant machines to the world’s most successful people. The cars became synonymous with winning. They embodied sophistication and style, combining cutting-edge engineering with the beauty of Old World tradecraft. And they had a genius promoter fashioning their heritage from the start.
“Being a racing driver was something that people looked up to in those days — they were heroes — and Enzo was very good at self-publicity,” says Nathan Beehl, a Ferrari historian in the U.K. and author of 10 books about the company. “He built the brand around himself.”
It didn’t happen overnight. Enzo started shipping cars to America in the early 1950s but by 1963 faced a buyout by Ford, a deal that imploded when he refused to turn over racing rights. The rebuff spurred Henry Ford to develop the Ford GT40 to beat Ferrari in a showdown at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966.
Ferrari faced various financial shortages, attempted takeovers and partnerships before an IPO in 2015. But consistent race wins and glorious automobiles like the 250 GT Berlinetta and 250 GT Coupe, the 400 Superamerica and 365 California kept enthusiasts clamoring for more — especially the unmistakable sound of the engine that forms the backbone of the brand. In Italy, Ferrari became such a point of pride that the company presents significant new vehicles, including the Luce, for a blessing from the pope himself.
Today’s Tifosi, a nickname for fans, consider Ferrari to be greater than the sum of its parts: It’s shorthand for the relentless drive required to obtain the finer things in life, for Italian elegance throbbing with power and wrapped in a scarlet bow. The image has permeated its culture. Ferrari F50s and 308 GTSs are driven by film heroes and sports stars. Classic Ferraris command such high prices they have become perennial blue-chip collectibles.
“Ferrari is not a private object, it’s a public one,” says Mamatha Chamarthi, an analyst and former technology offer who spent 25 years scaling software into cars for companies like Stellantis and Goodyear. “It’s ‘I want to take the Ferrari out and be photographed at the hotel valet getting out of the Ferrari in my Gucci clothes.’ ”
The loyalty test
The adoration translates into the type of margins BMW and Porsche can only dream about. Ferrari generates €430,000 in revenue (nearly $500,000) per vehicle sold, an average 50% higher than Lamborghini and four times that of Porsche. Its order books extend into 2027.
More than 81% of new Ferraris are sold to repeat owners, high-net-worth individuals who say they require the visceral sound and feel of Ferrari’s combustion engines, appreciate the rich heritage of the brand and enjoy the like-minded enthusiasts within their orbit. They’re widely considered to be the most loyal car customers in the world.
“My dream was always a Ferrari,” says Kenric Garcia, a collector in Albuquerque. He still remembers how he felt when he bought his first, an F430 F1. “I was driving around so happy — I was hearing that exhaust note, and I could just feel the racing heritage in the machine,” he says. Since then he’s attended multiple brand events and rallies. “Ferrari makes you feel very special, like you’re part of the team.”
This type of devotion is where the Luce risks becoming a tipping point in the annals of Ferrari. Its electric power train was not unexpected — Ferrari has made plug-in hybrids since 2019, and 20% of its vehicles will be fully electric by 2030. Bloomberg analysts say the company doesn’t need to sell many of them, predicting just 500 units delivered in 2027 and 700 by 2029. A few existing owners say they might even try one. “If I buy it and don’t like it, I can always sell it,” Lee says.
But while Ive’s reductionist design philosophy may appeal for something you can hold in your hand, like an Apple Watch, it sits opposed to Ferrari’s raison d’être, which is drama. Remove that and you’re erasing the identity of Ferrari itself, analysts say. That’s something few people want, not even tech-minded and EV-friendly potential customers in China. (They have their own cars for that.)
“People cannot connect Luce to Ferrari. They are connecting it to the Honda Accord,” Chamarthi says. “When we look at the DNA of a Ferrari customer, they’re not buyers of transportation. They are buying the Ferrari as a collectible.”
Ferrari is staying the course, with the first press drives of the Luce anticipated for year’s end. Dealers in New York, Miami and the Netherlands didn’t respond to requests for comment. One dealer in Los Angeles referred questions to Ferrari corporate PR.
More pragmatic Ferrari lovers are taking a long-term view. To them, the path forward seems to be accepting some vegetables (EVs that help meet compliance goals) if they still get the sweets (internal-combustion supercars) they crave.
“I don’t wanna hear any more negative takes about the Luce — they’re missing the point,” says Charlie Gray, a collector who owns a Ferrari 296 GTS in Los Angeles. “It’s very easy to hate. But it’s more meaningful to find the one compelling or interesting reason to like something.”
An electric Ferrari is not the end of the world, even if it feels like it.
“If Ferrari didn’t do this, maybe we wouldn’t have the screaming V-12s that we have right now in production,” Garcia says. “Maybe traditional Ferrari buyers don’t love it, but you have to innovate. You’re not always gonna impress everyone.”
Elliott writes for Bloomberg.
