Ferrari Stock Isn't Revved Up by Debut of the 'Luce'

Ferrari's big electric leap is colliding with a skittish stock market. The Italian luxury automaker on Tuesday pulled the cover off the Luce, its first fully electric car, then watched its shares sink as much as 6.3% in Milan trading, extending a slide that has left the stock down almost 27% over the past year, reports CNBC. The Luce ("light" in Italian), Ferrari's first five-seater, starts at around $640,000 and can reportedly hit 60mph in roughly 2.5 seconds, topping out near 192mph.

Developed and built in-house in Maranello, with design work by former Apple designer Jony Ive's agency LoveFrom, the EV breaks with Ferrari's traditional look and—crucially—its combustion-engine sound. (Check out the Luce in full detail here.) CEO Benedetto Vigna called it a "new chapter" and argued that the company can respect both new technology and longtime customers, promising "the same sensation" behind the wheel, just with a different kind of engine noise.

Analysts say the sell-off reflects investor worries over steep EV development costs and fans' unease that going electric could weaken Ferrari's carefully cultivated "supercar" identity. And indeed, Ferrari has already pulled back on some of its EV plans: The New York Times reports that the automaker had initially hoped to have 40% of its fleet be all electric by 2030, but it has since lowered that goal to 20%. The paper notes that other luxury car companies, including Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, have also yanked back their EV ambitions, either decreasing, postponing, or scrapping plans for electric upgrades altogether.