Ferrari CEO defends new Luce EV, saying customer interest is strong

Ferrari says it is seeing strong interest in its new 550,000-euro electric model, the Luce, including from new customers, and has already received bank transfers after showing the car to 1,600 clients. The company will disclose precise order figures in July, but the launch sparked criticism over its unconventional design and Ferrari's move beyond petrol-only models. Ferrari shares fell more than 8% on Tuesday after the unveiling, then recovered to be up 1.4% intraday on Thursday.

Analysis

The market is treating the EV launch as a brand-risk event, but the more important signal is that Ferrari is using electrification as a demand-expansion tool rather than a replacement architecture. That matters because the company can monetize two scarce assets simultaneously: pricing power and customer exclusivity. If early deposits are real, the Luce may function less as a volume product and more as a high-margin halo that pulls forward new-client acquisition, which is the key second-order positive for the stock over the next 6-12 months.

The near-term downside is not operational but narrative-driven: the risk is that investors extrapolate one controversial launch into a broader identity crisis for the franchise. That creates an opportunity because the reaction window is likely shorter than the fundamental window; brand angst can compress the multiple for days to weeks, while order-book evidence and management credibility will only be validated over the next earnings cycle. The critical catalyst is July disclosure: if Ferrari can quantify robust take-up without signaling substitution away from ICE/hybrid demand, the market should re-rate the launch from existential threat to optionality premium.

Second-order beneficiaries include suppliers and luxury adjacency names tied to bespoke interiors, battery integration, and ultra-low-volume manufacturing, where Ferrari’s validation of high-price EV willingness could lift sentiment across the premium EV stack. Conversely, mainstream EV makers are hurt at the margin if consumers infer that Ferrari’s EV is still priced as a status object, reinforcing that EV commoditization is a mass-market problem, not a luxury one. The contrarian view is that the selloff may be overdone because investors are pricing in design backlash as if it were demand destruction; for this customer base, controversy often increases desirability as long as performance and scarcity remain intact.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Buy RACE on post-launch weakness over the next 1-3 weeks; target a 10-15% rebound into July print if order-book commentary confirms deposits are converting, with a stop on any evidence of mix cannibalization from ICE/hybrid demand.
• Use a call spread in RACE into Q2 results (e.g., 3-6 month tenor) to express upside from order-book validation while limiting downside if the launch remains polarizing; risk/reward favors defined-risk upside because the bearish thesis is mostly sentiment-driven.
• Pair trade: long RACE / short a broad EV basket over 1-2 quarters. Ferrari is monetizing EVs as luxury scarcity, while mass-market EV names remain exposed to price competition and margin compression; this is a quality-vs-commodity divergence trade.
• If available, sell short-dated puts into volatility around July results only if shares stay weak and implied vol remains elevated; the thesis is that order-book confirmation should cap downside, but this should be sized modestly given headline risk.
• Avoid chasing the bounce in pure-play EV manufacturers on the back of Ferrari’s launch; the read-through is more about premium branding power than sector-wide demand acceleration, so any sympathy rally is likely to fade within days.