---
title: Ferrari's First Electric Car Sells for $40M at Auction
description: The one-off Luce, Chassis 0, sold at RM Sotheby's Monterey auction, with proceeds benefiting the Ferrari Foundation's education programs.
date: 2026-08-17T00:00:00.000Z
category: automobile
tags: ferrari, ev, auctions
---

A one-off Ferrari Luce, marked "Chassis 0," sold for $40 million at RM Sotheby's Monterey auction
on August 17, the highest price ever paid for a new car at auction, with proceeds going to the
Ferrari Foundation's education programs.

## The sale

The Luce "Tailor Made" is the first production chassis from Ferrari's new electric vehicle
program and, per Ferrari's own description, the first fully electric car in the company's
history. It was displayed at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance during Monterey Car Week before
the sale, and RM Sotheby's waived its buyer's premium on the lot since all proceeds go to the
Ferrari Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) charity.

## Why "polarizing"

Multiple outlets covering the auction, including CNBC, described the Luce as a polarizing design
ahead of the sale. Ferrari's shift to a fully electric model has drawn pushback from parts of its
enthusiast base since the car was first previewed, the same tension that's followed other legacy
performance-car makers moving into EVs. The $40 million result suggests that reaction didn't
extend to collectors bidding on a genuine first-of-line chassis.

## Why it matters

A charity auction result isn't the same signal as retail demand; this is a single collector-grade
chassis, not a market read on how the production Luce will sell once deliveries start. But it is a
real data point on how Ferrari's most serious collectors are pricing the brand's electric
transition: a record-setting bid for Chassis 0 specifically, not just any Luce, says something
about how much value the market puts on being first, independent of the electric-versus-combustion
debate playing out in enthusiast forums. Whether that translates into retail order volumes is the
test still ahead.

What to watch: Ferrari hasn't yet confirmed a delivery date or full pricing for the production
Luce lineup beyond this one-off sale.

More [Tech Automobile](/automobile/) coverage, or everything tagged [ev](/tag/ev/).