Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna on Tuesday offered praise for Tesla’s redesigned Roadster sports car, saying that the next-generation vehicle showed that the auto industry has capacity for daring innovation even in a more mature market.
Tesla marked the launch of the Roadster last week with a demonstration that included stunts and airborne maneuvers using thrusters the EV company developed with SpaceX. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who also leads SpaceX, said production of the Roadster would start in 2028.
Vigna was interviewed at an auto conference organized by Italian magazine Quattroruote and said the Tesla Roadster launch was a 10 out of 10 for technology and 10 out of 10 for presentation.
“It certainly shows that also in the automotive world there’s still a lot to be done. We have to keep dreaming,” Vigna said. “As a European, thank you for showing us how that, even in an old world, you can still innovate and dare.”
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Tesla’s Roadster was seen flying, performing a midair flip and accelerating from zero to 60 mph in under a second during the presentation, which was held at a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas.
Tesla shares initially rose following the unveiling of the Roadster, though financial analysts cautioned that deliveries are still off into the future after the model had faced years of delays.
A Roadster prototype was first revealed in 2017, at which time the company said deliveries would begin in 2020.
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The Musk-led automaker is allowing interested customers to reserve variants of the Roadster, with a $50,000 payment for the “Performance” version and a $250,000 payment for the “Thrust” version that includes “acceleration thrusters.” An invite-only “Rocket” variant is a single-seat model with a “full flight system.”
Ferrari unveiled the Luce, its first fully electric vehicle, in May and has been trying to win over skeptics after shares fell following the announcement.
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| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RACE | FERRARI NV | 400.24 | +5.99 | +1.52% |
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 373.71 | +5.65 | +1.54% |
The Luce was developed in a collaboration with former Apple design chief Jony Ive and the team from his LoveFrom studio.
Vigna said that risk-taking is necessary, and that outside influence was vital to Ferrari’s development of Luce.
“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,” Vigna said.
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Reuters contributed to this report.
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