Ferrari’s move into electric vehicles was influenced, at least in part, by a 2016 conversation between the company’s chairman and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, according to an account reported by Carscoops.
The chairman said the exchange helped push Ferrari towards developing an EV. The claim links the company’s electric Luce to a discussion that took place years before the vehicle entered public debate.
The account offers an unusual perspective on Ferrari’s electric transition, which has drawn attention because the Italian manufacturer is closely associated with combustion-engine performance cars. It does not suggest that Bezos made the decision for Ferrari, but that the meeting was influential in the brand’s thinking.
For drivers in Lithuania and elsewhere in Europe, the story is another sign of how even heritage-focused performance brands are confronting the shift towards electrification. Ferrari’s chairman has placed a single 2016 conversation among the factors that helped shape that direction.