Ferrari’s first electric car has fetched a staggering $40 million at a charity auction — shattering expectations after the radical new model was savaged by critics who said it betrayed the legendary Italian automaker’s identity.
The eye-popping sale set a record for a new vehicle sold at auction, according to Ferrari — and came less than three months after the five-seater priced at $550,000 sparked a fierce backlash following its unveiling in May.
The Luce — Ferrari’s first fully electric production car — was developed with LoveFrom, the design firm founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and Marc Newson.
Critics blasted the battery-powered Ferrari’s unconventional exterior and questioned whether the four-door grand tourer looked or felt like a Ferrari.
The backlash was severe enough to rattle investors.
Ferrari shares closed 8% lower in Milan on the first trading day after the exterior was unveiled, while its New York-listed shares were down 5% late in the session.
Former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo joined the pile-on, saying he hoped the company would remove its iconic prancing-horse badge from the vehicle.
Ferrari later conceded that the intensity of the response caught the company off guard.
Global marketing director Emanuele Carando said the automaker anticipated a polarizing reaction but “didn’t expect such a magnitude” of negativity.
Ferrari product chief Gianmaria Fulgenzi separately said the Luce “needs to be digested.”
Yet the auction showed that the controversy did little to deter at least one buyer from paying an extraordinary premium for the first production chassis.
According to The Autopian, bidding began at about $1 million and quickly surged into eight figures before eventually reaching $40 million.
The outlet, whose publisher Matt Hardigree witnessed the auction, reported that bidding appeared to stall around $30 million before climbing again, with the eventual buyer, who was not named, jumping from $36 million to the winning $40 million bid.
Ferrari said all proceeds from the sale with go toward educational initiatives, via the Ferrari Foundation.
The charity car was created through Ferrari’s Tailor Made customization operation, with a pearlescent exterior developed to change appearance as lighting and viewing angles shift.
Ferrari also gave Chassis 0 a specially configured light-colored cabin and a series of details unique to the car, including its wheels, brake calipers and badging.
Its cabin features Perla-colored metallic leather made from specially selected Swiss hides, while Ferrari fitted the vehicle with dedicated wheels, bespoke brake calipers and special badging on an optical-white background.
The vehicle carries a plaque denoting its place at the head of the Luce production run.
Its new owner will have to wait before taking the ride for a drive. The car is slated to go back to Ferrari in Maranello following the auction, before being handed over during the first quarter of 2027.
The sale also eclipsed the $26 million fetched by a specially commissioned Ferrari Daytona SP3 at a charity auction in 2025.
Despite the hostile reaction that followed the Luce’s unveiling, Ferrari has said demand for the controversial EV is meeting its projections.
Chief Executive Benedetto Vigna said in late July that orders were “in line with our expectations” and coming from both existing Ferrari clients and first-time customers.
The Financial Times separately reported that Ferrari had already reached its 2026 goal of just under 500 Luces in less than two months, helped by demand from China, although Ferrari did not confirm the precise figure.