Ferrari Luce a hit with China despite criticisms
Almost everyone in the automotive industry had an opinion on the electric Ferrari Luce when it was unveiled, but it’s doing what it set out to do.
Ferrari took the covers off its first EV, the Luce, in May, and it didn’t take long for criticism to emerge.
Perhaps the most jarring feedback was from Luca di Montezemolo, who served as Ferrari president from 1991 to 2014, who went on a tirade about the Luce, finishing it by saying it was “a car the Chinese won’t copy”.
According to the Financial Times, that’s just fine for Ferrari, with insiders telling the publication it has already reached this year’s sales target within two months.
One of the two insiders said Ferrari had targeted slightly less than 500 Luce sales throughout 2026, with the other informant claiming that figure was surpassed in early July.
While deliveries have not yet started, it’s reported the strongest demand for the Ferrari Luce is coming from China, a market which the brand hasn’t tapped into compared to some of its rivals.
In its quarterly financial report, Ferrari announced it had delivered 440 vehicles in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan through the first six months of the year, equivalent to just over six per cent of its total 6802 deliveries.
This represented a drop of 71 cars compared to the same period last year, and pales in comparison to the 1817 deliveries in the Americas and 3314 cars registered in Europe over the same six months.
Even Australia, which has a significantly smaller population than China, has still seen 88 Ferrari deliveries made between January and June.
Ferrari had been forced to clarify the Luce’s position in its lineup early on, batting away suggestions it would treat the EV as its new ‘entry-level’ product which customers would need to buy to ‘earn’ their way to the top and have access to more limited vehicles.
“We'd run the risk of creating negative ambassadors who would speak poorly of the Luce and, after a few months, resell it,” said Ferrari’s chief marketing and commercial officer, Enrico Galliera, last month, as reported by Automotive News.
“This would destroy its residual market value, which is precisely what the luxury electric vehicle sector is suffering from today.”
Jordan Mulach
Galliera, who has since departed the position, said at the time Ferrari’s dealers have been told the Luce can only be bought by people who are “truly motivated to buy it”.
“Our message to the network was: make sure that anyone who asks for this car truly wants it, and isn't buying it to please Ferrari because they're somehow looking for other types of benefits.”
Automotive News reported 84 per cent of Ferrari sales in 2025 were to customers who already owned one Ferrari, while 56 per cent of sales were to owners of multiple models.
