Ferrari’s first absolutely electrical automobile has bought for $40 million (£29.8m) at a charity public sale in California, setting a world document for the best worth paid for a brand new automobile at public sale.
The one-off 2026 Ferrari Luce “Tailor Made”, generally known as “Chassis 0”, was bought by RM Sotheby’s throughout Monterey Automotive Week. It’s the first manufacturing chassis in Ferrari’s Luce programme and was specifically configured by the producer’s Tailor Made personalisation programme.1
Ferrari stated the $40m worth surpassed the earlier document for a brand new automobile at public sale, set in 2025 when a bespoke Ferrari Daytona SP3 bought for $26m. Proceeds from the newest sale will go to instructional initiatives by the Ferrari Basis.2
The public sale automobile encompasses a semi-gloss mother-of-pearl exterior end developed particularly for it, an inside utilizing metallic Perla Le Mans leather-based, bespoke brake calipers and devoted wheels. RM Sotheby’s had positioned its worth at greater than $1.1m earlier than the sale.3
The Luce, unveiled earlier this 12 months, is Ferrari’s first series-production battery-electric car. Its electrical powertrain produces greater than 1,000 cv in enhance mode, whereas Ferrari offers a 0–100 km/h time of two.5 seconds, a prime velocity of 310 km/h and a variety of greater than 530 km.4
The high-voltage battery, designed, validated and manufactured in Maranello, has a gross capability of 122 kWh and contains 210 cells organized in 15 modules of 14 cells. It operates at as much as 880 V and helps a most recharge energy of 350 kW.5
The record-breaking public sale has additionally highlighted a much less acquainted difficulty for the rising market in collectable electrical automobiles: in contrast to lots of the mechanical parts in historic automobiles, battery cells deteriorate with age and can finally require alternative or different intervention.
Professor Vahid Vahidinasab, an power sustainability and electrical car skilled on the College of Salford, stated the public sale advised electrical Ferraris had already entered the collector market.
“Forty million {dollars} for a automobile that won’t be delivered till subsequent 12 months tells you the collector market has determined electrical Ferraris are historical past reasonably than novelty,” he stated.6
“It additionally creates an issue no person has needed to remedy earlier than. This automobile carries 210 battery cells, which makes it the primary severe collectable with a consumable half inside it. A Sixties Ferrari may be stored alive indefinitely as a result of each part may be remade by hand. Lithium cells can not. They lose capability whether or not the automobile is pushed or left below a mud sheet, and the cell format can be out of manufacturing lengthy earlier than the paint fades. That may be a actuality for each electrical automobile, not simply this one.”7
Vahidinasab stated the problem extends past high-value collectable automobiles to the creating second-hand EV market, the place the remaining situation and helpful lifetime of a traction battery can have an effect on consumers’ evaluation of a car.
“Whoever purchased this automobile can postpone the query for thirty years. However anybody utilizing an electrical automobile from any model for work and household life faces it now, within the UK and worldwide. Ask folks why they hesitate over a used electrical automobile and the reply is never the driving. It’s the battery: how a lot life is left in it and what occurs if it wants changing. That uncertainty is already flattening second-hand values, and it grows yearly because the fleet ages, and we must be prepared for it.”8
The query of how battery situation needs to be communicated to consumers can be attracting regulatory consideration. The UK Authorities stated final 12 months that it had no plans to require second-hand EVs to be bought with battery-health certificates, however famous that it had labored by the UN Financial Fee for Europe on World Technical Regulation No. 22.9
The regulation is meant to supply EV customers with accessible, correct and comparable info on battery state of well being. The Authorities stated in October 2025 that it was analysing choices for implementing the regulation within the UK.10
Vahidinasab argued that unbiased evaluation of battery situation may assist handle uncertainty within the second-hand market.
“The repair shouldn’t be sophisticated. It wants a reliable, unbiased approach of measuring what’s left in a battery, and somebody ready to face behind that quantity when the automobile modifications fingers,” he stated. “Forty million {dollars} has simply gone on one battery. The thousands and thousands of others are the actual problem and we have to discover a solution for our economic system.”11
The $40m Luce is predicted to return to Ferrari’s Maranello services following the public sale earlier than being delivered to its new proprietor within the first quarter of 2027.12
Notes
[1] RM Sotheby’s, 2026 Ferrari Luce ‘Tailor Made’, The Monterey Public sale 2026. The itemizing identifies the car as “Chassis 0”, the primary manufacturing chassis of the Luce programme, and particulars its bespoke specification, charitable goal and deliberate supply.; [2] Reuters, “Ferrari’s bespoke Luce EV one-off fetches $40 million at charity public sale”, 17 August 2026.; [3] RM Sotheby’s, op. cit; [4] Ferrari, Ferrari Elettrica, technical specs. Ferrari offers a battery configuration of 210 cells in 15 modules, 122 kWh gross capability, most voltage of 880 V and most charging energy of 350 kW. It additionally specifies a 0–100 km/h time of two.5 seconds, prime velocity of 310 km/h and vary above 530 km.; [5] Ibid; [6] Professor Vahid Vahidinasab, power sustainability and electrical car skilled, College of Salford, feedback provided to the publication.; [7] Ibid; [8] Ibid; [9] UK Parliament, written reply from the Division for Transport, Electrical Autos: Secondhand Items, answered 24 October 2025. The Authorities stated it had no plans at that time to mandate battery-health certificates for used EV gross sales and was contemplating UK implementation of UN World Technical Regulation No. 22.; [10] Ibid
