Ferrari's shift towards electric supercars gets off to rocky start

Ferrari NV, its constellation of engineers, marketers and dealers face a daunting challenge for a company steeped in piston-fired glory: translating the appeal of its growling supercars to Elettrica

By Daniele Lepido

 

At one of Italy’s largest Ferrari dealers, Edoardo Schön lifts the hood of a 1951 340 America that once raced at Le Mans, exposing the pristine V-12 underneath. 

 

The blue-and-white grand tourer occupies a featured spot in the Milan showroom, flanked by vintage Testarossas, F40s and a 275 GTB4. Together, they project the heritage of racing performance and exclusivity that has long set Ferrari apart from would-be challengers, and keeps a steady stream of wealthy buyers coming into dealerships like Schön’s family-owned Rossocorsa.

 

Over the coming year, Ferrari NV and its constellation of engineers, marketers and dealers face a daunting challenge for a company steeped in piston-fired glory: translating the appeal of its growling supercars to Elettrica, the company’s first all-electric model. The trick will be to bring the soul of the Prancing Horse to a car that will lack many of the touch points of its fossil-fueled predecessors: no spitting exhaust pipes, no bragging rights at the gas station, just the amplified hum of its four electric motors.  

 

“I wonder if the Ferrari Elettrica will have the same feeling,” Schön said. “The hard part is to evolve Ferrari’s DNA instead of changing it altogether, and give customers the full experience of something they haven’t had before.”  

 

Elements of the Elettrica were unveiled on Thursday at Ferrari’s investor day in Maranello, Italy, ahead of deliveries starting in late 2026. The coming-out was marred by financial projections that disappointed investors, sending Ferrari shares tumbling in Milan by the most on record.

 

The stumble underscores the perils awaiting Ferrari as it travels through uncharted terrain. Until now, the Italian company navigated the late fossil-fuel era better than any of its rivals. While others have groped their way through the EV transition, its shares still trade at multiples on par with luxury brands like Hermès International SCA. To get its changeover right, Ferrari will need to transfer the passion it’s built over 80 years to the electric age, while fending off rivals from China that have had a head start.  

 

“T-Rex vanished because it could not adapt to a cataclysmic climate change,” said Peter Wells, director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University in Wales. “This is precisely the challenge facing Ferrari. Either it adapts, quickly, or it will only be known in museums.”

 

To date, Ferrari’s rich customers have displayed an almost cult-like devotion to the brand. Yet for many, their loyalty is founded on combustion — Enzo Ferrari himself defined his creations as engines with wheels, wrapped in a beautiful package. Elettrica will be the first test of whether Ferrari can bring them along on the electrification journey, or find enough new fans on the way.

 

In the years the company has spent biding its time before bringing out a first EV, China has bum-rushed the global car industry with a barrage of long-range, fast-charging, high-technology models. One in four passenger vehicles sold globally this year will be battery-electric or plug-in hybrid powered, and more than half of those will be delivered in China. For the first time ever, BYD Co. will be the world’s No. 1 seller of fully electric vehicles on an annual basis, and the race isn’t close — the Chinese manufacturer delivered almost 390,000 more EVs than Tesla Inc. through the first nine months of the year. 

 

While Ferrari executives could care less about sales contests — the company delivered fewer than 14,000 cars last year — Thursday’s stock tumble shows the narrow margin for error. As it unveiled the technical and performance specs of Elettrica, Ferrari scaled back its plans to build more EVs, a move that will lighten the investment commitment. Yet the company also can’t afford to stand still. At least one more battery-powered model will arrive by 2030, Chief Executive Officer Benedetto Vigna suggested. 

 

“Electric is a new dimension for us, it’s a new opportunity and we continue to develop in that field,” he said at the event. 

 

The car itself will deliver the equivalent of more than 1,000 horsepower, and reach 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph) in 2.5 seconds — not quite the 1.81 seconds of a Rimac Nevera, but enough to edge out the Cyberbeast version of a Tesla Cybertruck. Other supercars can exceed the Elettrica’s top speed of about 310 kph — then again, the Ferrari experience has never been just about velocity. 

 

“It’s about emotion, craftsmanship and the racing DNA you feel behind the wheel,” said Schön, the Milan dealer.  The real test for Elettrica will be whether Ferrari can recreate the connection and driving passion that define the brand, he said.  “From what I know so far, Ferrari is on the right path, but until customers drive it, we won’t know if it fully lives up to that heritage.”

 

Company Town 

Maranello, nestled in the hills of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, pulses with the rhythms of the company that dominates the town of about 17,000. The streets are lined with red banners while cafes carry names of famous models and races. At the nearby test track, prototypes roar past between the trees. For decades, this soundtrack provided reassurance to local Ferrari faithful. This too is changing, as the future tilts toward batteries, engineers and quieter test runs.

 

Other features of the Elettrica will be revealed in the buildup to customer deliveries of starting in late 2026. The new model’s interior will be shown early next year, with the full car unveiled in spring. Pricing will be announced next year.  

 

The Elettrica’s range of about 530 kilometers (330 miles) is comparable to Tesla’s Model Y but short of the Mercedes-Benz EQS. Charging will be compatible with as many stations as possible, Ferrari executives said, with a fast-charge option bringing the battery to 80% full in 15 minutes to minimize range anxiety.  

 

Ferrari has expanded its range, adding hybrids and the four-door Purosangue in 2022. But there are risks to diluting an elite brand, and it’s tough to get the balance right. Lamborghini’s Urus defined the so-called hyper-SUV category, but demand has faded for Porsche’s electric Taycan, and Mercedes-Benz Group AG’s $100,000 EQS missed the mark. 

 

The combustion roar is one aspect of a petroleum-powered Ferrari that Lucas Li, a 32-year-old entrepreneur in Zhejiang, China, is reluctant to leave behind.

 

“If I have 4 million to 5 million yuan ($560,000-$700,000) in cash ready to buy a car, I’ll always pick a fuel-powered Ferrari over the electric one,” said Li, who owns a Ferrari 599 GTB and an F430 along with several electric vehicles for daily use. Many members of his Ferrari club of more than 300 feel the same way, he said. “For us, the biggest reason to buy a Ferrari is the sound.”  

 

In a glass and steel building in Maranello, engineers in red coveralls tend to motors and battery packs, working to give the Elettrica a look and feel that captures Ferrari’s essence. The company filed a patent in Italy in 2021 for an acoustic device that amplifies the electric motor’s whine and turns it into something closer to a growl. A subsequent US patent described a “virtual gearbox” that replicates the sensation of shifting without the mechanical linkage, restoring some of the drama of acceleration. 

 

“Sounds are amplified when appropriate, for example when accelerating in a certain way, when our senses expect the sound to be present and to rise in volume,” Gianmaria Fulgenzi, Ferrari’s chief product development officer, said in an interview. 

 

Weight is another challenge. The Elettrica uses an upgraded version of the active suspension used on the Purosangue, and Ferrari integrated the battery pack into the chassis to lower its center of gravity and improve handling. 

 

“Battery packs add a lot of weight, and weight gets in the way of agile and nimble cornering and braking ability,” said Samuel De Rocco, owner of Cambiocorsa Performance, an automotive workshop near Milan. “The electric supercars I’ve driven provide astonishing acceleration, but beyond straight-line speed they feel like trucks. That’s the pitiful truth.”

 

Ferrari’s sales staff in China are working to keep their wealthy clients onside, said Li. It’s an undersized market for Ferrari, but one where Vigna, the CEO, sees potential since EVs are subject to lower import fees. “China could be good fit for our Elettrica as there's a good appetite for that product because customers are already used to electric vehicles,” Vigna said.

 

Li said dealers join Ferrari-owner WeChat groups, giving updates on upcoming models and working to counter customer concerns. Around Chinese holidays, salespeople send gifts and cards, and they invite clients to closed-door events, track days and private test drives to make them feel part of an inner circle. “Owning a Ferrari gives you a sense of being trendy, while also elevating other aspects such as social status and life taste,” said Li.

 

Ferrari’s first EV will need to win over new customers, and “China is likely to be central to that strategy,” said Susy Tibaldi, a luxury analyst at UBS. An electric model could be a better fit for the market, though not without hurdles, she added. “China’s luxury consumers aren’t used to waiting two years for a purchase, and competition in the EV segment is particularly fierce.”

 

Indeed, in the past decade as a public company, Ferrari has managed to position itself as a luxury company, mastering the language of scarcity, sequencing and ritual as powerfully as Birkin bag maker Hermes. At about €63 billion, Ferrari’s market cap far exceeds rivals like Porsche and Mercedes that sell significantly more cars.

 

Protecting the valuation won’t be easy. Multiples have come down in recent months as investors allow less wiggle room. The stock drop  “is starting to feel extreme,” Jefferies luxury analyst James Grzinic said in a note. “As our travels continue, we will more accurately assess how wide the real gap between RACE's conservatism and investors’ rebased expectations truly is.”

 

Some customers are can’t wait to get their hands on the new model.

 

“Ferrari always creates something people don’t think is possible — in design, performance and feeling,” said Cristian Appelberg, a Swedish entrepreneur who owns eight Ferraris. “As soon as there is any kind of ability to place an order for the Ferrari Elettrica, if I can, I’ll do it,” he said in an interview. “I trust them completely.”

 

The biggest risk for Ferrari is  being perceived as “me-too” unless it can deliver something truly distinctive, said Markus Lienkamp, a professor of engineering at the Technical University of Munich.

 

Still, Ferrari has already crossed one crucial threshold on its electrification journey.  Roughly 50% of its shipments are currently hybrids, a milestone that would have been unthinkable just few years ago. Analysts have high hopes the new F80 hybrid supercar will spin profits.

 

That said, Ferrari has a limited window to fend off upstarts like BYD, whose luxury unit Yangwang claimed a world record last month with the fastest production car, U9 Xtreme, reaching more than 308 miles per hour. 

 

“We are beginning to see some absolutely insane machines coming out of China,” said Andrea Levy, a Turin-based supercar collector and entrepreneur.