Ferrari boss promises ’emotion’ won’t be lost in EV engine roar

Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna promised on Tuesday that the luxury carmaker’s new electric vehicle will offer drivers the same “unique” experience as its historic combustion engines.

The Italian company is launching its first fully electric vehicle in the final quarter of 2025 and will open a new production site in Maranello, Italy, in June to manufacture electric motors, battery packs and power inverters.

Ferrari is forecasting that approximately 60% of its sales will be split between fully electric and hybrid cars by 2026, as it looks to establish market share with a new range of high-performance electric supercars.

Speaking to CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday, Vigna said the company would maintain its focus on performance, design and driving experience in its EV range, insisting that “electric cars are not silent.”

“Each Ferrari we make is unique. When we do a Ferrari, we look at the performance, the design, the driving traits and the sustainability,” he said.

“If you know the technology, you know you can do a lot of things also with electric cars,” he said when asked about the sound of an EV.

“When we talk about luxury cars like our cars, we are talking about the emotion that we are able to deliver to our client, so we are not talking about functional cars like other EVs that you see on the road,” he added.

“We have no doubt, honestly, that we can deliver a unique experience to our client because we can harness the technology in a unique way. That’s what our company has been doing since the beginning.”

Though typical electric powertrains are largely silent, Ferrari engineers are working on “sound signatures” for its EVs “that will stir emotions and rival that famously produced by its combustion engines.”

Ferrari shares have enjoyed a bumper start to 2024, up almost 29% year to date after a 59% jump in 2023. The company posted record earnings last year with annual net profit up 34%, exceeding 1 billion euros, or $1.08 billion, for the first time.

Last week, research firm CFRA downgraded the stock to hold from buy on the back of the “massive run-up” for the stock so far this year.

“While we continue to consider the company one of the highest-quality names in the auto industry, with industry-leading gross margins (~50% in 2023), unparalleled pricing power, and a strong backlog due to the global strength of its luxury brand, the stock’s current valuation now appears to reflect these positives,” CFRA senior equity analyst Garrett Nelson said in a research note.

Correction: The text of this story has been updated to better reflect the comments made by CEO Benedetto Vigna.