Luca di Montezemolo said he was disappointed with the new super sports car; model breaks with the brand's tradition and frustration drops market value
The launch of the Ferrari Luce, the brand’s first 100% electric car, generated a strong identity crisis that culminated in harsh criticism from Luca di Montezemolo, former president of the automaker. The executive stated forcefully that the new model risks the “destruction of a myth”, reflecting the dissatisfaction of enthusiasts and the subsequent drop of about 8% in the company’s shares on the stock exchange.
Montezemolo, who led the Italian manufacturer for more than two decades and worked as a personal assistant to founder Enzo Ferrari, did not mince words during an event of the General Confederation of Italian Industry. “If I say what I think, I will hurt Ferrari. I am very disappointed,” he declared with evident anguish.
The former manager even mocked the controversial design of the vehicle, suggesting that the brand’s traditional emblem should be removed from the bodywork. “I hope at least they take the horse out of that car,” he said, adding in a tone of sarcasm that, with the style adopted, the sports car will at least not run the risk of being copied by Chinese manufacturers, which today dominate the production of electrified vehicles.
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Presented in Maranello, the super sports car breaks with decades of mechanical and sound tradition by abandoning combustion engines to adopt a set of four electric motors, capable of delivering more than 1,000 hp. The official technical sheet assures high-performance figures: the vehicle accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in just 2.5 seconds, reaches a top speed of 310 km/h and has a range of more than 530 kilometers. Its suggested price in the European market varies between 550 thousand and 640 thousand euros.
Despite the bold specifications, the radical transition to pure electrification and the aesthetic lines of the Luce have been facing strong rejection from the automotive community. The most purist public considers that the manufacturer has abandoned the emotional essence that made it famous. That frustration was quickly absorbed by the financial market, translating investors’ distrust of the viability of a model that seems to confront Ferrari’s own storied heritage.
