Shares in Ferrari $RACE tumbled as much as 7.8% in Milan on Tuesday, their steepest drop since October, after the Italian carmaker took the wraps off the Luce, its debut fully electric model, at an event in Rome. By midday in London the losses had moderated to roughly 6.5%.
Tagged at €550,000 — about $640,000 — the Luce is a four-door model accommodating five passengers, and Ferrari expects to start handing cars over to buyers before the end of 2026. Each of the four wheels draws power from its own dedicated electric motor, with the combined system generating just over 1,050 horsepower. Ferrari claims the Luce sprints from standstill to 100 kph in 2.5 seconds, is governed to a top speed above 310 kph, and can travel more than 530 kilometers on a full charge. The design was handled by LoveFrom, the creative collective co-founded by former Apple $AAPL design chief Jony Ive and designer Marc Newson.
Observers both inside and outside the industry greeted the Luce with skepticism, according to Bloomberg, with a recurring criticism being that the car's styling evoked mainstream, affordable electric vehicles rather than a six-figure supercar. In a research note cited by Bloomberg, AIR Capital's head of research Pierre-Olivier Essig wrote that the car resembled a "mix between a Honda $HMC Accord EV and Tesla $TSLA 3," concluding that his firm was "lost in translation with Ferrari's new strategy." Anthony Dick, an auto analyst at Oddo BHF, called it "by far the sharpest reaction we've seen for a car design," according to CNBC.
Speaking to CNBC, Ferrari chief executive Benedetto Vigna hailed the occasion as "a very, very important day," framing the Luce as a car designed to honor both the demands of the technology itself and the varied expectations of current and future buyers. "What is important is the emotion that is [being given] to the driver," Vigna said.
The debut arrives at a complicated moment for luxury electrification: both Porsche and Lamborghini have dialed back their electric vehicle ambitions in recent months, with softening buyer interest cited as the reason, according to Bloomberg. Ferrari has said it will continue offering combustion, hybrid, and fully electric powertrains.
Ferrari posted first-quarter results earlier this month that beat analyst expectations, with revenue of €1.85 billion and reaffirmed full-year guidance. Over the preceding year, Ferrari's share price has shed more than 31% of its value.