Lamborghini’s CEO Feels Good About Cancelling Its First EV After the Ferrari Luce Backlash

Ferrari’s rough week has convinced Lamborghini it made the right call.

The Italian marque’s CEO, Stephan Winkelman, told CNBC that the negative response to the Luce’s unveiling makes him think his company was right to shelve its first EV. Instead, the company has decided to focus its resources on plug-in hybrids for the foreseeable future.

Back in 2021, Winkelman unveiled Lamborghini’s ambitious electrification strategy, “Direzione Cor Tauri.” The $1.8 billion plan laid out the automaker’s intention to offer hybrid versions of all its models by 2025 and its first EV before 2030. The company has already accomplished the first goal but is unlikely to meet the second, after cancelling the all-electric Lanzador (though the high-riding GT may see release as a plug-in hybrid). The executive told the financial news network the decision was the “right way to go” for his company.

“Our decision to go from [traditional internal combustion engine] to plug-in was a very important one for us, and it worked out,” Winkelman said. “We don’t speak about our competitors . . . but everybody has their own strategy.”

Lamborghini is one of many automakers that have backed off their previously announced EV plans in recent years. The decision cannot have been easy, as developing a vehicle tends to be a real investment, but it was one the company felt it had to make after seeing how its primary customer base responded to battery-powered vehicles at the start of the decade.

“By observing the market . . . we saw that the acceptance curve [of EVs] for our type of customers is not increasing, and that therefore we decided to move away from a full-electric car into a plug-in hybrid,” he said.

It’s easy to see why Winkelman feels confident in the decision now, even if he refused to comment directly on a competitor like Ferrari. The legendary sports car maker’s week had been defined by backlash to its $640,000 EV, which was designed by former Apple design chief Jonny Ive. The primary complaint that the EV, with its bold, aerodynamic exterior, does not look like a Prancing Horse. The company’s former chairman, Luca di Montezemolo, even told Reuters the vehicle should be stripped of the company’s iconic badge.

It’s not just di Montezemolo and keyboard warriors who have been put off the look of the car; Wall Street has as well. In the wake of the Luce’s debut on Monday, Ferrari stock has fallen by 8 percent, leading some analysts to wonder if the company has made a rare mistake with its EV push.

This article originally appeared in Robb Report US.