The Numbers Come First
Ferrari set a target of selling 500 units of its Luce electric vehicle in 2026. Two months after the car's May launch, the company has already met that goal — and CEO Benedetto Vigna said Thursday he was 'very pleased with how orders are proceeding,' according to Reuters.
The Luce carries a $640,000 price tag. Ferrari's long-term objective is 2,500 units sold by 2030. With the order book already full through 2027, the math is moving in the right direction.
A Rough Launch, A Strong Recovery
The road to those numbers was anything but smooth. When Ferrari unveiled the Luce in May, the internet's reaction was swift and brutal. The car — designed in collaboration with former Apple designer Jony Ive and his firm LoveFrom — features rounded surfaces, unusually large wheels, and four doors, a notable departure from the two-door silhouette associated with the brand.
Even Luca di Montezemolo, who served as Ferrari's president and chairman for two decades, weighed in at the unveiling. According to Fortune's source reporting, he said he hoped 'they take the prancing horse off that car, at least,' and added — in Italian — 'This is definitely a car that, at least, the Chinese won't copy.' Shares fell 8% in a single session.
Q2 Earnings Beat; Guidance Raised
Thursday's quarterly report changed the conversation. Ferrari posted revenue of 1.94 billion euros ($2.2 billion) for its second quarter, exceeding analyst expectations. The company raised its full-year revenue outlook to 7.6 billion euros ($8.7 billion), up from a prior guide of 7.5 billion euros ($8.6 billion).
Ferrari shares, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, were up 3% Thursday afternoon following the earnings release. RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan told CNBC: 'Ferrari rarely raises its guide in Q2, favoring instead to do so in Q3, and as such we view this a positive indicator for the remainder of the year and would expect shares to move higher.'
The Broader EV Headwind — And Ferrari's Carve-Out
The Luce's performance is particularly striking against a deteriorating U.S. EV backdrop. After President Donald Trump eliminated the federal tax credit for EV purchases in September, new EV sales collapsed 49% month-over-month in October, according to Cox Automotive. Last month, new EV sales fell 28% from a year earlier and accounted for just 5.4% of total new vehicle sales in the U.S.
Competitors have retreated. Lamborghini canceled its $300,000 Lanzador EV in 2025; CEO Stephan Winkelmann said the market and customers were 'not ready.' Ferrari itself scaled back its EV ambitions in October, reducing its target for all-electric models in its lineup from 40% to 20% by 2030.
Ferrarri has positioned the Luce specifically for wealthy Chinese buyers and Silicon Valley customers already comfortable in EVs — a narrow, high-net-worth segment insulated from the subsidy politics that are reshaping the mass market.
The Editorial Read
The Luce story is a clean lesson in what free enterprise actually rewards: not consensus, not internet approval ratings, but product-market fit and pricing power. Ferrari found a buyer — the ultra-wealthy EV adopter — and priced accordingly at $640,000. No tax credit required.
While the broader EV market leaned on Washington subsidies and collapsed when those subsidies disappeared, Ferrari's model was never built around government incentives. Capital rewards clear rules and real demand. The prancing horse, it turns out, did not need to be removed.
