Ferrari's First EV Sells For $40 Million at Auction
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It marks a new record for any new car sold at auction, and the good news is that all proceeds from the sale are going to charity.
Pre-auction estimates suggested that the special-edition all-white Ferrari Luce - 'Chassis 0' - would bring in $1.1 million at Sotheby's. But it went on to fetch $40 million - more than 60 times its already lofty retail price. It has become the most expensive new car ever sold, and the fifth most expensive car of all time.
The figures are remarkable, considering the furore when the marque's first EV was launched earlier this year. The design, courtesy of former Apple designers Jony Ive and Marc Newson, proved controversial when it launched in May, with some commenters arguing that the design does not look enough like a Ferrari with its pared-back silhouette, four doors and five seats.
After the launch, such was the backlash, Ferrari's share price initially dropped by eight percent amid criticism over its design. Nevertheless, Ferrari sold out its entire 2026 target within only two months of launch, the Financial Times reported. "There are an enormous number of people who are just predisposed to not want to like this," Newson told Dezeen in May. "They haven't even seen the thing, let alone driven the thing."
"But the reality is people need to drive this car to really, really understand it, and I would urge people, before they pass those sorts of judgments, to try it."
Ferrari will donate all the proceeds from Chassis 0 to The Ferrari Foundation, which helps support future educational initiatives.
An American billionaire and inventor has become the owner. Namely, Dr Herbert “Herbie” Wertheim, an optometrist who founded Brain Power Inc.
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