Ferrari vs. Tesla: Can the Luce Outsell the Roadster?

The new, all-electric Ferrari Luce. Coming into Thursday, Ferrari stock has risen 17% this year while Tesla stock has declined 14%. (FERRARI PRESS OFFICE / AFP vIA getty images )

Key Points

Ferrari says its new all-electric Luce sports car is set to hit roads in the fourth quarter, and production for 2027 is already sold out.
The Luce, which costs over $500,000, will be on roads before the new Tesla Roadster, which Tesla unveiled in October.

Ferrari has gone electric, launching its first battery-only sports car, Luce, earlier this year. It’s about to hit roads, which raises the question: Which supercar will sell better, the Luce or the new Tesla Roadster?

Ferrari on Wednesday reported as-expected third-quarter results. Sales of $2.1 billion matched Wall Street projections. Shares rose 4.3% on Wednesday.

The main attraction of a Ferrari earnings call isn’t always earnings. It’s the cars, and management provided some tidbits about the all-electric Luce. For starters, the car is set to hit roads in the fourth quarter. Second, production for 2027 is sold out.

That’s good news for a car that didn’t get uniformly warm reviews. Unveiled in May, some compared the design to a Nissan Leaf.

It’s great that the car is sold out, but management declined to say how many units that represents.

Still, the car, which costs north of $500,000, will be on roads before the new Tesla Roadster, which Tesla unveiled in October. Pricing for the base Roadster model hasn’t been finalized, but Tesla envisioned charging $200,000-plus back in 2017. That would be north of $300,000 today, adjusting for inflation.

The Tesla Roadster, however, can fly, using technology from SpaceX. The highest-level version is invite-only and likely will cost seven figures.

So which car is better? That boils down to personal preference for environmentally conscious people with a lot of excess cash and the desire to show that off.

It ultimately doesn’t matter for Tesla. The market for super-expensive cars is very limited and Tesla has pinned its hopes on low-cost robo-taxis and AI-trained robots. The Luce’s success matters for Ferrari, but it has found enough Ferrari fans to sell out for 2027.

Tesla stock was down 1.8% in premarket trading at $378.15, falling for a second day following the midterm elections, in which Democratic Senate and gubernatorial candidates won in Tesla’s home state of Texas. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.2% and 0.6%, respectively, on Thursday.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@barrons.com.

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