First electric Ferrari Luce sells for $40 million
Enzo Ferrari once famously quipped that he sold engines and threw the rest of the car in for free. For well over seven decades, that intoxicating, high-rpm combustion crescendo was the untouchable soul of Maranello. But when the Italian marque revealed the Luce - a quad-motor, five-seat electric super-tourer penned in partnership with LoveFrom - the traditionalists suffered a collective existential crisis.
The internet critics scoffed, sharpened their pitchforks and declared the end of Italian motoring as we know it. But in a stroke of automotive irony that only Monterey Car Week could deliver, the same Luce dismissed as silent heresy, detonated the auction record books.
Under the warm California sunshine at RM Sotheby's, the first-ever production example - officially cataloged as "Chassis 0" with VIN ZFF21BUA8T0338000 - crossed the block for an astonishing £29 million.
The pre-sale estimate conservatively predicted roughly £0.80 million, but bidders blew past it by nearly forty times, eclipsing the previous new-car benchmark set by a bespoke Daytona SP3 by a cool £10 million margin. In a single drop of the gavel, Maranello's most controversial creation became the single most expensive new car ever sold at auction.
What does that sort of financial bravado actually buy you? Beyond bragging rights that echo through eternity, the high bidder secured a showcase of Ferrari's Tailor Made craftsmanship draped in an exclusive Madreperla Semi-Gloss, and infused with bespoke pigments that shift seamlessly from vivid emerald green to deep violet depending on how sunlight hits the bodywork.
Bespoke white wheels, white brake calipers, and a white Prancing Horse emblem set against a black background complete the exterior. The cabin trades moody black trim for Le Mans leather finished in Perla with Grigio Corvara secondary elements. And of course, a commemorative plaque reminds everyone on board of this car's milestone status.
Surprisingly, dropping that kind of money does not exempt you from classic Italian waiting games. The winning bidder will not be parking Chassis 0 in their driveway anytime soon. Built to North American specification, the car must return home to Maranello for final factory validation before its formal handover in the first quarter of 2027.
If the buyer happens to live outside the United States, they will face the additional bureaucratic joy of funding local road homologation - that is, if they ever intend to drive it rather than sealing it away in a climate-controlled vault to watch the equity tick upward.
Should the new owner actually decide to flex its mechanical muscle, the hardware will not disappoint. With four permanent-magnet electric motors working in concert, the system delivers 1,035 horsepower. The quad-motor torque vectoring helps to catapult this four-door liftback from zero to 62 mph in 2.5 seconds on its way to a 193 mph top speed. An 800V electrical architecture and a structural 122-kWh battery pack are capable of taking in 350 kW on a DC fast charger - Maranello clearly did not build a half-hearted cruiser.
The electric Ferrari is 197.9 inches long, 78.7 inches wide, and stands 60.8 inches tall with a generous 116.6 inches wheelbase. By comparison, the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT is 195.6 inches long, and the Maserati GranTurismo Folgore spans 195.2 inches and matches the Ferrari's substantial 4,982 lb curb weight on the dot.
The stratospheric auction result is a huge milestone in Ferrari's evolution. The Prancing Horse laid the groundwork through Formula 1 hybrid systems, followed by road-going plug-ins like the LaFerrari, SF90 Stradale, and 296 GTB. The commissioning of the E-Building at the Maranello factory proved that electric powertrains are now a permanent part of the brand's roadmap. Purists may shed a tear for the missing exhaust, but early (and very limited) road tests confirm that the chassis balance and hyper-responsive steering feel remain unmistakably Ferrari.
There is also a genuinely uplifting detail to this entire record-breaking spectacle. Ferrari is not pocketing a single penny of the proceeds. With RM Sotheby's waiving its buyer's fee, the entire £29 million windfall is going directly to the Ferrari Foundation to bankroll educational programs and youth initiatives.
Reader comments
Nothing yet. Be the first to comment.