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I ask if Winkelmann can explain why luxury EVs fail so miserably while lower price points in the segment do so well. “First of all, there is no need to buy a car like a Lamborghini. Then, of course, there is the electric car experience in terms of purchase price, resale value, residual value, and also in terms of technology.”
Winkelmann refers here to: Mouthwatering drops in value Some high-end electric cars are seeing brands like Porsche lose up to half the value of the car in just one year. Meanwhile, other brands had Luxe EVs that lost more than $600 every day.
“Then there’s the fact that the technology, in our customers’ eyes, will be obsolete 10 years from now, because there’s so much new technology,” Winkelmann says. “That’s the idea of the majority of our customers, the experience they’ve had with electric vehicles, even in different segments, and charging times.”
Winkelmann says he doesn’t know whether the fast-charging, high-capacity solid-state battery technology will be developed in time for the brand’s new 2029 deadline.
The announcement is another reminder that Ferrari, already irrevocably committed to launching its first fully electric car, Losdue later this year, is another luxury automaker that chose (or was forced) to significantly downsize Its EV plans. Adding Lamborghini to the ranks of high-end brands pulling the plug on full electric vehicles probably doesn’t bode well for Los.
However, Daniele Menisteri, senior consultant at automotive analysis firm JATO, says this does not necessarily mean a disaster for the Italian brand’s first electric car. “Ferrari has already faced criticism in the past for certain product decisions, most notably the introduction of its SUV, the Purosangio,” he says. “However, two years after its launch, the Purosangue has proven a commercial and brand success, quickly becoming one of Ferrari’s best-selling models. It remains difficult to predict whether the new Luce will generate the same level of enthusiasm. However, Ferrari has succeeded in attracting strong interest for the project.”
Winkelmann says Lamborghini’s decision to delay going fully electric has nothing to do with the decline of Ferrari or any other competing brand. “We know what our neighbors are doing. But we have our own strategy, and it’s good to have a comparison – but we have to be responsible for what we do. This is the right decision for us.”
Munoz says that although Europe is not the largest market for electric vehicles, it is still second only to China, which gives an idea of how difficult it is for these cars to gain traction. “When it comes to supercars, the transition is more difficult, because they are usually associated with large, loud petrol engines,” he says. “Ferrari’s upcoming electric car will have a tough time competing against its ICE siblings. What Ferrari cannot do is repeat Porsche’s mistakes with the Taycan. It started very strong, but quickly lost its appeal to the brand’s other ICE models.”