Ferrari unveiled its first fully electric vehicle in Rome on Tuesday, a five-seat model called the Luce priced at about 550,000 euros, and the Milan-listed stock fell 6.3 percent within hours of the reveal. U.S.-listed shares dropped 3 percent in premarket trading.
The launch marks the sharpest strategic break in Ferrari's history and arrives as rival luxury manufacturers retreat from electrification. Lamborghini scrapped plans for an all-electric vehicle two months ago, citing weak demand from sports car buyers, and Porsche has scaled back its own EV ambitions. Ferrari is moving in the opposite direction, betting that the global push toward electrification will eventually reach the supercar segment.
The car
The Luce, whose name translates as "light," can reach 60 miles per hour in roughly 2.5 seconds and tops out near 192 miles per hour, according to Ferrari. It is the company's first five-seater. Customer deliveries are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter. Ferrari said it developed and built all components in-house at Maranello and handed the design to LoveFrom, the agency founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive.
The pitch
Chief Executive Benedetto Vigna called the launch a "very, very important day" for Ferrari, one that opens "a new chapter" in its history. Asked by CNBC's Charlotte Reed how the company would balance new buyers with longtime customers, Vigna said: "Look, when you do a new technology, you need always to keep in mind a word that is called respect." He said the Luce would deliver "the same sensation" as a combustion Ferrari, though its sound is that of an electric motor. "What is important is the emotion that is [being given] to the driver," he added.
The reaction
Analysts attributed the share drop to a mix of "design hate" and the market adage of "travel and arrive," noting Ferrari shares had run up ahead of the reveal. The Milan-listed stock is down more than 31 percent over the past 12 months. Michael Field, chief equity strategist at Morningstar, told CNBC by email that "many fans are disappointed that Ferrari is embracing the EV concept, believing it dilutes the supercar brand," and that investors had feared the research and development costs would weigh on returns. Anthony Dick, an auto analyst at Oddo BHF, said the drop was "by far the sharpest reaction we've seen for a car design — the market has spoken" and called the Luce "the furthest deviation from the brand's ethos we've ever seen".
The day's reporting carried no audible dissent from Ferrari dealers or longtime collectors, who had not publicly weighed in by press time. The voices on the record were uniformly skeptical of the financial bet, even as one analyst told Reuters that Ferrari is trying to "define what luxury electrification looks like before someone else does".
Vigna has staked the next phase of Ferrari's product plan on the Luce reaching wealthy buyers who would not previously have considered a Ferrari. The fourth-quarter delivery window will test whether the roughly 640,000-dollar five-seater can convert curiosity into orders before rivals reassess their own withdrawals from the electric supercar race.