Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna on Tuesday gave Tesla’s new Roadster top marks for technology and presentation, saying it showed the auto industry still has room for daring innovation.
Vigna spoke by videoconference from India at ‘Quattroruote Next’, the annual auto industry forum organized by Italian magazine Quattroruote at IBM Studios in Milan, where he was interviewed.
“I give it 10 for technology and 10 for communication: it was a sensational presentation,” Ferrari’s chief said.
‘We Have to Keep Dreaming’
Asked what message the launch sent to Europe, Vigna said the Roadster proved there was still much left to do in the car business.
“It certainly shows that also in the automotive world there’s still a lot to be done. We have to keep dreaming,” Vigna stated.
“As a European, thank you for showing us how that, even in an old world, you can still innovate and dare,” he added.
Vigna addressed the remark directly to Tesla’s chief executive, saying “As a European, I say to Elon Musk,” before thanking him for showing that innovation was possible “even in an industrial world considered old.”
A Roadster With Thrusters
Tesla showed the redesigned Roadster last week at a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas, near Waco, where the car drove upside down on a ramp, turned in the air and landed using cold-gas thrusters.
“Turns out the future does have flying cars,” Musk wrote on X after the event.
Musk said production would start in 2028, more than a decade after Tesla first showed a next-generation Roadster in 2017 and said deliveries would begin in 2020, according to Reuters.
Tesla’s Roadster has three versions: a two-seat model, a two-seat “limited release” model with rear cold-gas thrusters for 0-60 mph in under one second, and an “invite-only” single-seater that “can fly.”
The company says the flying version is “not approved for public road use.”
Tesla vehicle engineering chief Lars Moravy said the car can top 230 mph and travel more than 300 miles on a charge, while Tesla’s reservation page showed deposits of $50,000 for the Performance version and $250,000 for the Thrust version, Reuters reported.
Tesla has not announced prices.
The car drew praise from Nio founder and CEO William Li last week, while XPeng founder and CEO He Xiaopeng called it “very cool” but flagged flight certification.
Ferrari is trying to win over skeptics of its own after its Milan-listed shares closed down 8.4% on May 26, the day after it unveiled the Luce, its first fully electric model.
The stock has since recovered, closing at €353.35 in Milan on Monday, 24.4% above its May 26 close of €284.05.
Outside Eyes on the Luce
Ferrari unveiled the four-motor Luce in Rome on May 25, saying it was designed with Jony Ive and Marc Newson at their creative collective LoveFrom.
Vigna said outside input had been vital to the car.
“If we had worked on our own, we wouldn’t have done what we did. In other words, we tackled a whole series of questions and came up with some answers prompted by people who were observing us from the outside,” he said, according to Reuters.
“To truly innovate, it is essential to open up to engaging with diversity and to welcome an outside perspective,” he said in Quattroruote’s account, adding that the novelty “can create some initial friction.”
He also said Ferrari tries to anticipate what clients want, noting that “in just 40 days” it had presented models at opposite ends of its range, the Luce and the 12Cilindri.
Ferrari unveiled the 12Cilindri Manuale, a limited series of 1,499 cars, on July 3, 39 days after the Luce.
Its “Manuale By-Wire” system pairs a gear lever and a clutch-by-wire pedal with Ferrari’s eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, according to the company.
“Purists often forget that many mechanical concepts have already been replaced over time by sensors and electronics,” Vigna said of the gearbox, according to Quattroruote.
‘Not True Innovation’
Vigna told the forum that the only way to innovate is to accept mistakes made while exploring.
“If a project has a 100% probability of success, then it isn’t true innovation,” he said, according to Quattroruote.
He said Ferrari launched 147 innovation projects in 2022 and stopped 47 of them because they were not sustainable economically, industrially or emotionally.
That equals about 32% of the projects launched that year.
Strong Interest in India
Vigna said interest in the Ferrari brand was strong. Ferrari was in India for several reasons, starting with the opening of the first local edition of Universo Ferrari, he told reporters.
“India is a country growing very strongly and with an extraordinary passion for our brand,” he said.
He said the upcoming free trade agreement would cut duties on combustion-engine cars from 110% to 2%.
The European Commission’s summary of the EU-India deal says tariffs on cars will gradually fall from 110% to 10%, within a quota of 250,000 vehicles a year.
Ferrari will report third-quarter results on Nov. 3, the company said on October 16.
