"It Wasn't Copied": Ferrari CEO Defends First EV After Design Backlash

Ferrari shares trading in Milan have not recovered since plunging the most in nearly eight months after the company unveiled its first EV sports car earlier this week, breaking with eight decades of petrol-powered tradition. The debut drew immense criticism, with one Wall Street analyst calling the new EV a "mix between a Honda Accord EV and Tesla."

By Thursday, Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna was on damage-control duty at an event in Modena, where he defended the design of the battery-powered, four-door, five-seat Luce, which costs a staggering €550,000 ($638,660), according to Bloomberg.

"The Ferrari Luce has nothing to do with electric cars you have seen from other players," Vigna said earlier today. "You have to see it and drive it to understand that it wasn't copied — not the interiors, not the exterior, not the performance."

Pope Leo was shown Ferrari’s first fully $640,000 electric car in Rome on Tuesday. The pope sat inside the Ferrari Luce and was presented with the vehicle’s steering wheel by Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna. pic.twitter.com/mIxAniwULm

— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 27, 2026

Vigna said, "Look at the people writing to us, the people placing orders. Some are existing clients and others are new."

"Maybe some people understood that Ferrari was going only electric. We will continue to make all types of powertrains," he added.

Vigna noted, "The final answer comes from clients."

Customers have already shunned Ferrari hybrid models, as a recent report by Goldman analyst Christian Frenes noted that these hybrid sports cars are depreciating far faster than their petrol-powered counterparts, suggesting buyers still prefer V-8 and V-12 combustion engines.

Earlier this week, AIR Capital analyst Pierre-Olivier Essig said the Luce looks like a "mix between a Honda Accord EV and a Tesla."

Frenes noted today that Luce's negative reaction was "overblown" ...  

He explained:

We view the strong market reaction to the Luce reveal as overblown and of less investment significance than media commentary suggest. While the Luce is Ferrari's most controversial product launch of late, we see limited near-term risk to estimates given that both investor and management expectations were already conservative ahead of the event. On long-term product strategy concerns, we equally view recent public commentary as an overreaction: management has explicitly reaffirmed its commitment to powertrain flexibility and made clear that the Luce's design language does not define future models.

Ferrari Luce vs. EU Peers: Specification and Pricing Benchmarking

For a fraction of the cost and with better all-around performance, the Tesla Model S Plaid outperforms the Luce.

Ferrari has been benchmarking the Model S Plaid.

Still valid imo, since Ferrari has been benchmarking this car for a couple of years: https://t.co/Td5h6F1Xez

You’d think they would surpass it. pic.twitter.com/trLuWBWX3C

— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) May 27, 2026

If car enthusiasts don't care about performance but want a similar design to the Luce, there is the Nissan Leaf.

The Luce risks joining the Mondial in Ferrari's hall of shame.

Professional subscribers can read the full Ferrari note here at our new Marketdesk.ai portal