Ferrari’s first all-electric car, the Luce, attracted significant criticism after it was unveiled because it did not look anything like a typical supercar from the Italian marque.
The negative publicity around its aesthetics and the fact that Ferrari had launched an EV, a big step away from its fire-spitting internal combustion engines, suggested that the Luce may not sell that well.
However, in China, where automakers are finding it tough to compete with local brands in a cost-sensitive market, the Luce appears to have performed well.
Ferrari allotted 88 units of the Luce to China, and all sold out in no time. Did people genuinely like the $586,600 EV, or were they a bigger fan of the prancing horse symbol that represents luxury and elitism?
Luce Achieves Surprising Sales Benchmark With Single-Digit Discount
According to Car News China, the Luce was launched in China at a price of 3,988,000 yuan ($586,600), and all allocated units were sold out.
Ferrari reportedly offered a 7% discount to its Chinese customers, which is included in the figure mentioned earlier. However, that is unlikely to be the reason the Luce sold out, especially since Ferrari has been experiencing declining sales in China.
Another report from the same outlet stated that Ferrari’s sales in China have been declining for many years now, despite the brand allocating only 10% of its production to the country. In 2022, Ferrari sold 1,500 cars in China, but in 2025, that number dropped to 900 units, which was 6.9% of its overall sales.
There must have been something about the Luce that led to its entire Chinese allocation selling out because it faces tough competition from other performance EVs in China, such as BYD’s Denza Z9 GT, which is cheaper and yet outperforms the Ferrari in nearly all aspects.
Luce Brings in Status
However, those cars don’t offer one thing that the Luce does- a badge that can display wealth. The Luce highlights that status symbols are something people are willing to pay enormous sums for, even in a price-conscious market like China.
Whether buyers were drawn primarily by the car itself or by Ferrari’s prestige is open to interpretation. After all, a car that costs 4 million RMB suggests that its owner belongs to the country’s wealthiest tier.
One thing is certain- the Luce may help Ferrari recover some of the money it lost after the EV was unveiled at the end of May.
Guessing Headlights reported that Ferrari’s share value dropped by 6% when the markets opened after Luce’s official unveiling, erasing roughly £4 billion ($5.38 billion) in value overnight, pushing Ferrari’s valuation back to where it was about five days earlier.
Assuming the drop happened simply because Ferrari launched an EV would not be correct, because in October 2025, the company saw a 15% drop in value after announcing a 2030 plan with a less ambitious EV development program, which raised questions about Ferrari’s long-term sustainability.