$40 Million Ferrari Electric Hypercar Sale Sets Auction Record in California
Bespoke electric model commands record charity bid despite high-profile launch backlash
A bespoke edition of Ferrari’s debut electric vehicle fetched $40 million at a California charity auction, setting the highest auction price ever recorded for a brand-new automobile. The transaction was structured through a high-profile bidding event run by RM Sotheby’s.
RM Sotheby’s knocked down the first production example of the Ferrari Luce to an undisclosed buyer, assigning the total sum to the Ferrari Foundation’s education programs.
The Ferrari Foundation’s education programs received a payout exceeding 35 times the standard retail cost of the Luce, eclipsing the company’s previous record for a new car sold at auction. That earlier benchmark was set in 2025, when a bespoke Daytona SP3 raised $26 million.
That $26 million record set by the bespoke Daytona SP3 stood until Ferrari made its initial entry into the electric vehicle sector with the Luce, a vehicle co-developed with former Apple designer Sir Jony Ive.
Designing dedicated battery architectures often requires ultra-luxury automakers to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in capital expenditure before completing a single build.
That initial build produced a five-seat, battery-powered vehicle that provoked severe criticism upon its May debut. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini joined former Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo in condemning the direction, with Montezemolo declaring that Ferrari was “risking the destruction of a legend.”
“Risking the destruction of a legend” was directly countered in May by Ferrari Chief Design Officer Flavio Manzoni, who asserted that criticism is an inevitable part of innovation and predicted that public perception of the Luce would change.
That public perception was put under intense scrutiny during an extraordinary launch campaign that featured private viewings for Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Pope Leo. Ferrari shares dropped the day following the unveiling as market pushback intensified.
Market pushback occurred while Ferrari kept its exact volume targets for the Luce undisclosed, though reporting from the Financial Times revealed the carmaker already filled its target for the year on strong buying from China.
Strong buying from China reinforced statements from RM Sotheby’s, which marketed chassis number one as an “unbeatable opportunity” and described the transaction as a “tangible expression of innovation, responsibility, and long-term vision for future generations.”
Future generations of collectors have consistently paid premium prices for limited-run and customized Ferraris, though this $40 million transaction remains well below the overall record for any automobile sold at auction. That absolute mark belongs to a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, which brought $142 million in 2022.
