Ferrari shares trading in Milan have not recovered since plunging the most in nearly eight months after the company unveiled its first EV sports car earlier this week, breaking with eight decades of petrol-powered tradition. The debut drew immense criticism, with one Wall Street analyst calling the new EV a "mix between a Honda Accord EV and Tesla."
By Thursday, Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna was on damage-control duty at an event in Modena, where he defended the design of the battery-powered, four-door, five-seat Luce, which costs a staggering €550,000 ($638,660), according toBloomberg.
"The Ferrari Luce has nothing to do with electric cars you have seen from other players," Vigna said earlier today. "You have to see it and drive it to understand thatit wasn't copied— not the interiors, not the exterior, not the performance."
Pope Leo was shown Ferrari’s first fully $640,000 electric car in Rome on Tuesday. The pope sat inside the Ferrari Luce and was presented with the vehicle’s steering wheel by Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna.pic.twitter.com/mIxAniwULm
Vigna said, "Look at the people writing to us, the people placing orders. Some are existing clients and others are new."
"Maybe some people understood that Ferrari was going only electric. We will continue to make all types of powertrains," he added.
Vigna noted, "The final answer comes from clients."
Customers have already shunned Ferrari hybrid models, as a recent report byGoldman analyst Christian Frenesnoted that these hybrid sports cars are depreciating far faster than their petrol-powered counterparts, suggesting buyers still prefer V-8 and V-12 combustion engines.
Earlier this week, AIR Capital analyst Pierre-Olivier Essig said the Luce looks like a "mix between a Honda Accord EV and a Tesla."
Frenes noted today that Luce's negative reaction was "overblown" ...
Source: ZeroHedge News
