Ferrari CEO Confirms Biofuel Strategy to Save V12s After First EV Sells Out 2026 Allocation

The internet spent months roasting Ferrari's first electric vehicle, but the ultra-wealthy ignored the noise and bought every single one.

During the company's second-quarter earnings call, CEO Benedetto Vigna confirmed that the 2026 production allocation for the "Luce" EV is entirely spoken for.[1]

The scale of the success is striking. Ferrari quietly set a target of just under 500 units for the year, priced at a staggering €550,000 each. In China, the country's entire allocation of 88 vehicles vanished almost instantly upon release.[2]

This commercial triumph follows a brutal public reception. Designed in collaboration with Jony Ive's LoveFrom studio, the four-door EV faced immediate backlash from purists. Former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo even suggested the company should remove the iconic prancing horse badge from the hood, and the automaker's stock dipped in the days following the reveal.

But the financial reality tells a different story. Vigna noted that demand is perfectly in line with expectations, drawing strong interest from both existing collectors and entirely new clients.[1]

The true twist of the Luce's success, however, is not the dawn of an all-electric Ferrari era. Instead, the EV's sold-out status is providing the exact financial and regulatory runway needed to save the company's legendary internal combustion engines.[4]

During the very same earnings call, Vigna made a pointed case for the survival of the V12, revealing that Ferrari has successfully tested carbon-neutral biofuels in its traditional powertrains.[3]

The testing results represent a massive breakthrough for automotive purists. Vigna confirmed that these synthetic e-fuels work perfectly in their existing engine architectures, delivering the same visceral sound and power with absolutely no drop in performance.[3]

Synthetic e-fuels are created through a complex but entirely carbon-neutral process. Facilities use direct air capture technology to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, then combine it with green hydrogen produced via renewable energy.[4]

Because the carbon emitted from the tailpipe during combustion is exactly equal to the carbon captured from the air to create the liquid fuel, the entire lifecycle adds zero net carbon to the atmosphere.[4]

This mechanism perfectly threads a looming regulatory needle. The European Union's 2035 ban on the sale of new combustion engine vehicles includes a specific, hard-fought exemption for cars running exclusively on synthetic e-fuels.[4]

The economics of e-fuels remain a significant hurdle for the broader automotive industry, as the production process is highly energy-intensive and expensive. But for a buyer spending over half a million dollars on a supercar, paying a premium at the pump is a negligible cost to keep a mechanical masterpiece on the road.[5]

Armed with this technological bridge, Ferrari has quietly revised its long-term powertrain projections. Rather than phasing out gasoline engines, the automaker has doubled down, committing to a portfolio that will be 40 percent pure internal combustion by 2030.[4]

The remainder of the 2030 lineup will consist of 40 percent hybrid vehicles and just 20 percent pure electric models. This ensures that 80 percent of all Ferraris sold at the end of the decade will still feature a combustion engine.[4]

Vigna describes this dual-track strategy as "emotion-driven innovation." The company refuses to let government mandates alone dictate the sensory experience of driving, choosing instead to engineer a sustainable way out of the emissions problem.[5]

The commitment to mechanical heritage is immediate. Ferrari confirmed that two more models will debut before the end of 2026, widely expected to be high-performance, combustion-powered derivatives of their current hybrid and V12 architectures.[3]

Rivals across the supercar landscape are watching closely. Ferrari has proven that a heritage brand can successfully launch a hyper-expensive EV to satisfy new-money tech buyers, while simultaneously using that success to fund the immortalization of the combustion engine for the purists.[5]