During Monterey Car Week in California, a bespoke version of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, the Luce “Chassis 0,” sold for $40 million in a charity auction conducted by RM Sotheby’s. The sale price was 36 times the car’s original estimate of $1.1 million and establishes a new record for the most expensive new car ever sold at auction.
Details of the record‑breaking sale
The Luce, whose name means “light” in Italian, features an electric motor on each of its four wheels and a distinctive bubble‑shaped body that departs from Ferrari’s traditional angular design. The “Chassis 0” model is finished in a pearl‑like semi‑gloss paint that shifts from green to violet when struck by light, and its interior is upholstered in a custom Perla Le Mans metallic leather with black accents on a white background.
Ferrari USA highlighted the auction on Instagram, noting that the bids kept climbing until “history was made.” All proceeds from the sale will be directed to The Ferrari Foundation to support its educational initiatives.
Market context and future deliveries
The Luce’s auction success comes just months after Ferrari’s share price fell more than 8 percent on the Milan stock exchange following the model’s May unveiling. While some longtime Ferrari enthusiasts offered mixed reviews of the electric model’s radical styling, the brand described the Luce as “a different sort of Ferrari for a different sort of Ferrari client.”
Publicly available Luce models, priced at €550,000 (about $640,000), are slated to begin deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2026. The record‑breaking “Chassis 0” will return to Maranello, Italy, after the auction before being delivered to the unnamed winning bidder in the first quarter of 2027.
Charitable impact
The auction was part of a broader charitable effort during Monterey Car Week, a weekend that draws collectors, manufacturers, and enthusiasts from around the world. By channeling the proceeds to the Ferrari Foundation, the sale underscores the brand’s commitment to supporting education and community programs.
Ferrari has not yet commented further on the sale, and the company’s spokesperson was not reached for additional remarks.
Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.
