Ferrari's first electric car sparks ridicule and investor backlash

Ferrari’s first fully electric car, the Luce, was meant to open a new chapter in Maranello’s history. Instead, its unveiling in Rome on May 25, 2026 set off a sharper question: whether the world’s most famous performance brand can electrify without dimming the sound, scarcity and drama that made it culturally powerful in the first place.

The reaction was immediate and brutal. Ferrari shares fell more than 8% in Milan, and U.S.-listed shares also slid as investors reassessed whether the company could expand beyond its collector base without damaging the brand premium that has long supported its valuation. Online critics mocked the four-door, five-seat Luce by comparing it to a Honda Accord and a luxury kitchen appliance, a reminder that for Ferrari, design is not a side issue but the product itself.

The backlash also turned political and personal. Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini attacked the car on X, saying it looked nothing like a Ferrari and invoking Enzo Ferrari’s name as a standard the Luce had failed to meet. Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Ferrari’s former chairman and one of the most influential figures in the company’s modern era, went further, warning of “the destruction of a legend” and saying the prancing horse logo should be removed from the car.

Ferrari chief executive Benedetto Vigna defended the project as the result of five years of work, arguing that innovation does not come from consensus on day one. Flavio Manzoni, Ferrari’s chief design officer, acknowledged that the car is polarizing. The Luce was developed with help from Jony Ive and his LoveFrom collective, underscoring how seriously Ferrari treated the jump into a market where design and software matter as much as horsepower once did.

The company is trying to thread a narrow strategic needle. Ferrari said in 2025 that by 2030 its lineup would be 40% internal-combustion, 40% hybrid and 20% electric, with an average of four new car launches a year from 2026 to 2030. It also said the electric model, called Elettrica in its corporate planning, had more than 60 patents tied to it and would be an addition to the range, not a replacement. Deliveries are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Ferrari says the car’s sound comes from an external amplification system rather than a traditional engine roar, a telling compromise for a brand built as much on emotion as engineering. The Luce is aimed partly at China and younger wealthy buyers in tech centers such as Silicon Valley, but the first response suggests the harder challenge is not technology. It is convincing buyers that a silent Ferrari can still feel like a Ferrari.