Ferrari CEO Defends EV Model Amid Industry Backlash

Following backlash over the price announcement of Ferrari's first EV car, CEO Benedetto Vigna has defended the vehicle’s €550,000 (US$640,000) price tag, adding that the model has already seen strong consumer interest.

The company’s Luce model was announced earlier this week and drew negative market reaction, resulting in a fall in Ferrari’s share price the following day.

Responding to the criticism, Benedetto says the cost of the new model was a fair pay price considering its innovative design.

He adds that media coverage was framing the announcement as a company move to replace all traditional engines with all-electric equivalents, which he stresses is not the case.

“You have to see Luce to understand that it has nothing to do with Chinese EVs or those by other brands,” Benedetto said in an interview to Reuters.

A new chapter in Ferrari’s history

Benedetto described the day of the Luce model announcement as a “very, very important day” for the company and that it symbolised the opening of “a new chapter” in the brand’s history.

When CNBC asked whether the company could attract new customers and appease its regular clientele with the launch, Benedetto replied: “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.”

Ferrari had previously stated that it had chosen to develop and manufacture all components in-house in Maranello, with the Luce design entrusted to LoveFrom, an agency founded by former Apple Design Chief Jony Ive.

The reaction from investors was accompanied by intense criticism on social media, in addition to the company’s former CEO Luca di Montezemolo, who voiced concerns over the model’s impact on Ferrari’s legacy.

Discussing the design, he said: “If I were to say what I really think, I’d be doing Ferrari a disservice. We risk destroying a legend, and I’m truly sorry about that.”

Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini also weighed in on the reaction to the Luce.

“Electric, outrageously expensive (550 thousand euros!) and, from an aesthetic point of view, it speaks for itself... 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... ,” he wrote on X.

EV ambitions for 2030

Ferrari’s share price dropped by as much as 8% the day after the announcement, before recovering to a 6% decline, reflecting a lack of investor confidence in the potential success of the model. Prior to the launch, the company was valued at €56bn (US$65bn).

Ferrari says the Luce’s design was “simplified and rationalised in service of the driving experience”, and emphasises that it was creating an “entirely new Ferrari”.

Last year, the company scaled back its ambitions to shift from petrol to electric. Its current strategy is to establish a 2030 lineup of 40% internal combustion engine models, 40% hybrids and 20% fully-electric. In 2022 it had planned for 40% electric, 40% hybrids and 20% petrol models by 2030.

Discussing Luce and Ferrari’s plans for EV innovation, Benedetto says:“We are convinced that a company demonstrates its leadership when it has the courage to dare and to take on the challenge of new technologies. 

“Ferrari Luce was born precisely from this challenge, offering our unprecedented vision of electrification.”