The Man Who Saved Ferrari Is Torching the Luce

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo — Ferrari chairman from 1991 to 2014, the executive who dragged the company from a loss-maker into one of the most profitable luxury brands on earth — publicly unloaded on the Luce this week. His remarks, transcribed and translated by Drive.com.au, are pointed.

"We're risking the destruction of a myth, and I'm very sorry about that," Montezemolo told Italian media. "I hope they at least remove the Prancing Horse from that car."

Then he added: "This is surely a car that at least the Chinese won't copy from us."

The longest-serving Ferrari chairman in history — second only to founder Enzo Ferrari himself — is saying the car is so unappealing that even China won't bother stealing the design.

The Numbers Got Worse

Previous coverage noted a 6% stock drop. The updated figure from BBC News is steeper: Ferrari shares fell more than 8% on the Milan stock exchange and over 5% on the New York market the day after the unveiling.

That's real shareholder money gone — on a company that built its entire premium valuation on brand mystique and product perfection.

What Montezemolo Actually Represents

Mainstream coverage frames this as "former exec criticizes new car" — the usual corporate drama.

Montezemolo isn't just a former boss with an opinion. According to Drive.com.au, he's on record from 2013 saying Ferrari "will never manufacture an electric car as long as I'm chairman" — and made similar statements in 2011. The man's entire tenure was defined by protecting Ferrari's combustion identity.

His criticism carries institutional weight. When the architect of modern Ferrari says strip the badge, that's the brand's own history rejecting the product.

What the Car Actually Is

The Luce is Ferrari's first fully electric vehicle, priced at $640,000. It hits 0-60mph in roughly 2.5 seconds and tops out at over 190mph, according to BBC News. It uses a Ferrari-built electric motor on each wheel, with all components made in-house. CEO Benedetto Vigna said this protects long-term repairability and resale value.

It is also Ferrari's first five-seater. Ever.

The car was co-designed by the LoveFrom agency — the firm led by former Apple design chief Sir Jony Ive and Australian designer Marc Newson, per Drive.com.au. The Italian President and Pope Leo were both invited to view it at launch.

None of that goodwill survived contact with the market.

The Critics Are NOT Just Trolls

Australia-based high-end car dealer and collector Shaun Baker told BBC News the car is the "Loser" — a deliberate wordplay on the name. Baker isn't some anonymous commenter. He moves product at this price point for a living.

Meanwhile, rivals Lamborghini and Porsche have already scaled back their EV ambitions due to poor demand and Chinese competition, according to BBC News. Ferrari looked at that landscape and went all-in anyway.

What the Media Is Getting Wrong

Some outlets are covering this primarily as a design controversy — focusing on memes, social media reactions, and the aesthetic split between fans. That's real, but it's the shallow layer.

The core problem is strategic: Ferrari spent half a decade developing this car, according to CEO Vigna. The company built its valuation on scarcity, exclusivity, and a roaring combustion identity. The Luce is a five-seat, silent EV at $640,000. That is not a Ferrari in any historical sense of the word — it's a luxury technology product wearing a Ferrari badge.

The market isn't punishing Ferrari for bad design. It's punishing Ferrari for identity confusion at the worst possible moment in the EV market cycle.

The Chinese EV Angle

The original strategic rationale, per BBC News, was that Ferrari wanted to take on Chinese EV makers. That's the stated goal.

But Chinese luxury EV competitors — brands like NIO, Zeekr, and BYD's Yangwang — are winning on value, tech, and volume. Ferrari's entire business model is the opposite of that. You don't beat China's EV market by joining it at $640,000 a unit.

Montezemolo's bitter joke about the Chinese not copying it is actually a strategic indictment: if your $640,000 car is so unappealing that even China's aggressive design-copy culture won't touch it, the product has a fundamental problem.

Why This Matters Beyond Enthusiasts

Most people will never spend $640,000 on a car. But Ferrari's stock is held in mutual funds, retirement portfolios, and ETFs. The 8% drop matters to investors who've never sat in a Prancing Horse in their lives.

More broadly, this is a warning about brand overreach. When a company's most valuable asset is its identity — and it abandons that identity to chase a market trend — the market notices.

Ferrari had no obligation to go electric. It chose to. Now it's wearing the consequences.