Ferrari’s Controversial Electric Luce Fetches $40 Million At Auction

On Saturday night at Monterey’s famous classic car auction, RM Sotheby’s put a series of notable automobiles up for sale. Under the hammer were prewar American classics from the 1930s, including the custom-bodied Duesenberg Model JN that Clark Gable ordered new and a LeBaron-bodied Packard Twelve phaeton; vintage Bugattis from the same era; Ferrari flagships from every decade, from a 288 GTO to Lee Iacocca’s F40 to Mike Tyson’s F50, to a Rosso Corsa Enzo never before offered publicly, a gorgeous LaFerrari, and a bee-yellow Daytona SP3.The most notable car was the 1996 McLaren F1 GTR, a factory prototype which was not only the first 1996-specification GTR, and a car formerly owned by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, but was the famed “Pop Art” GTR, with an outrageous factory livery. It sold for an impressive, even for a McLaren F1, $34.655 million.But that was only the second-most-expensive car at the auction, beaten by the most controversial car of the year, the electric Ferrari Luce, which was bought for a flat $40 million. Ferrari Luce 001. Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s.That 1995 Ferrari F50, considered one of the most special modern-era Ferraris, sold for $12.105 million.To put this in context, this is the third-highest result ever for a Ferrari sold at auction, only beaten by the 1962 Ferrari 330 LM / 250 GTO — chassis 3765 — sold at New York in 2023 for $51.705 million, and the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO — chassis 3413 — sold in 2018 for $48.405 million. This widely loathed electric blob was sold for more money than 250 GTOs, 250 LMs, the 335 S, the 412P Berlinetta, and every other special race car in the marque’s history.Two key differences here spike its value: it was a charity auction, meaning the new buyer should be able to write off most of the purchase price, and it was the first Luce built, chassis 0. For a certain group of enthusiasts, that’s worth a lot — but even by the standards of charity first-production-car auctions, the Luce is in a whole other league.Until now, the most expensive charity auction result for a first-production-model car was the Corvette ZR1, sold at Barrett-Jackson in 2025 to benefit the American Red Cross. That went for $3.7 million. Add that to the next most expensive cars in this category — VIN 001 of the 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, of the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, of the 2022 GMC Hummer EV Edition 1 pickup, of the 2020 Toyota GR Supra, and of the 2017 Acura NSX — and you’re still almost $24 million short. And those were for well-known charities, with clear, well-known uses. This money goes toward the Ferrari Foundation.The closest auction sale overall to this was a one-off 2025 Daytona SP3 Tailor Made, built as a final extra car on top of the 599-car production run explicitly so that it could be sold for charity. RM Sotheby’s sold it last August at Monterey for $26 million — at the time considered a record, outrageous figure. It’s a cool car, but it’s basically just a LaFerrari, sans hybrid, so a $10 million premium for a charity sale and final model felt a bit rich. But the Luce was just the first chassis of a controversial electric car that is probably overhated, but also destined to deeply depreciate and be widely available at Ferrari dealers by early next year.So what possible reason could the buyer have for spending this money? The buyer has yet to be announced or identified, so anything here is pure speculation, but the answer is likely some combination of clever financial management and the access it buys. A Luce lists at about $640,000, making roughly $39 million of this $40 million a straight gift to a tax-exempt charity, and through their philanthropic deed, the buyer also gets complete access to Ferrari’s limited “Icona” series cars, or to commission a one-off for themselves through the Special Projects program. If the collector buys and sells enough of those, with special specs and VINs, then they can likely profit off this in the long term, and, in the meanwhile, they get the best hospitality from Ferrari at private race events and F1. And the value of that is real; multiple other bidders had put the price past $36 million before the winner jumped to $40 million.The whole thing is a bit desperate though. The Luce has not been well received by its base, and seemingly not attracted as much new-customer attention as hoped. Its “sold out through 2026” claims are only true because of shockingly low production numbers: fewer than 500 expected to be built in 2026, gradually growing to about 600 units a year by 2030. Ferrari will try its best to hide this relative failure, and therefore will kindly reward the buyer who helped most aggressively, by buying the first car off the line for some outrageous fee.The Luce is overhated, and it may well be a uniquely great EV. Its value may even be justified as the start of a wave of incredible electric Ferraris. But it’s never going to be a classic Ferrari, of the kind that sell at auction for many millions but still a fraction of this. Those cars will always be special and always be expensive — I wouldn’t be shocked for an F50 to sell for more than $30 million within the next 20 years. But when this car eventually gets sold on, don’t expect it to sell for more than this. If it makes back a 20th of this, the owner’s estate will be lucky.Ferrari Luce 001. Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s.

Ferrari’s Controversial Electric Luce Fetches $40 Million At Auction

Ferrari’s Controversial Electric Luce Fetches $40 Million At Auction

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