Ferrari Announced Its First-Ever Fully Electric Vehicle And It Was So Poorly Received It Sent Shares In The Company Tumbling

Italian luxury automaker Ferrari has officially entered the electric vehicle market this week after announcing the Ferrari Luce, the company’s first-ever fully electric vehicle. This comes after many other ultra-luxury automakers have been hesitant to test the waters of electric vehicles.

Ferrari is one of the most iconic brands on earth. Not just within the auto industry but worldwide. Ferrari red and the prancing horse on the company’s logo are truly iconic and conjure up images of wealth, success, and a benchmark to strive for as the average price for a Ferrari starts at $380,000 and is out of reach for the vast majority of people on planet earth.

Given the rock solid brand identity of Ferrari, surely the announcement of the electric Ferrari Luce would not cause any reputational damage and would only excite people already bullish on the electric auto industry, right??? Wrong.

Ferrari Announces First Fully Electric Vehicle, ‘Luce’ Sends Shares Tumbling

Not to be lost in the announcement of the electric Ferrari Luce is how, well, the car looks electric. That is to say that is really looks like an electric vehicle and lacks the je ne sais quoi in the Italian automaker’s most iconic vehicles.

Here is Ferrari’s electric vehicle announcement. Give it a look, and decide for yourself if this looks like the pure Italian muscle car you are accustomed to seeing:

For starters, why did they opt to go with a color other than Ferrari red? It is a color that is part of the Ferrari DNA. A color that every Ferrari fan worldwide recognizes. The fully electric Ferrari Luce will be available in 35 different colors and they go with this icy blue over the red? C’mon, man. And here’s the thing, on Ferrari’s website you can see it in Ferrari Red and it looks exponentially better than the icy blue, in my humble opinion.

The announcement of the electric Ferrari Luce was apparently so poorly receieved that it hurt investor’s bottom line. As of the time of writing, shares in Ferrari NV are down 4.42% today (-15.40). They were down as much as 6.3% according to CNBC and over the past 12 months shares in Ferrari have fallen 31.18%.

Not great!

To me, the electric Ferrari Luce looks more like how I’d expect the Ford Mustang to look 5-10 years from now than a Ferrari. And I know that is an entirely subjective opinion but I feel like I am not alone in recognizing that the design of the first-ever Ferrari electric vehicle looks drastically different from anything the company has released before.

It will be sold in 35 different colors, across four categories: Standard, Historical, Classic, and Special. The vehicle will be made in Maranello, the home of Ferrari, and it was designed with Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newson at the creative collective LoveFrom.

The interior of Ferrari’s first-ever electric car is drastically different from Ferraris of the past as well. On the vehicle’s announcement page, Ferrari says the “interior forms are simplified and rationalised in service of the driving experience.”

It will feature all-wheel drive, four doors, five seats, and the “interior is a celebration of hundreds of discrete products.” They are hinting that while there is a LOT going on that much if it is hidden from plain view and going on behind the scenes.

At the end of the day, this car will be immensely popular in time. It does have the appearance of a concept car that has been released to the public. That will change. The public will come to love it. Seeing one in person will change people’s perceptions over time. But for now, it does look out of place and the declining shares in Ferrari don’t seem to bode well for this launch.