There are men who buy sensible commuter hybrids, and then there is Herbert “Herbie” Wertheim, an eccentric billionaire strutting around California’s Monterey Car Week in a bright red jacket and sneakers, dropping $40 million on an electric hatchback. It’s the Ferrari Luce Chassis #0.
Designed in collaboration with former Apple design icon Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newson from the LoveFrom collective, Maranello’s very first 100% electric vehicle ditched traditional, muscle-flexing Italian drama for ultra-minimalist simplicity. Depending on who you ask, it’s either a futuristic masterpiece or a quiet sacrilege.
Purists threw a collective fit, and even former Ferrari top boss Luca Cordero di Montezemolo didn’t hold back his sharp critique, lamenting the complete absence of a “wow” factor. After all, a four-door, five-seater, all-wheel-drive EV is undeniably the most spacious and versatile Ferrari ever built, but practical versatility isn’t usually what makes gearheads drool.
None of that sour griping stopped Herbie Wertheim from shattering world records at the RM Sotheby’s auction. The $40 million winning bid utterly demolished previous records for the highest price ever paid for a new production car at auction.
If the buyer’s name sounds familiar, that’s because the Philadelphia-born former Navy sailor, ex-NASA engineer, optometrist, and investment guru is no stranger to Maranello’s ultra-exclusive bidding wars. Born in 1939 to working-class parents who later ran a Florida bakery, Wertheim revolutionized eye care in 1969 by discovering that UV light causes cataracts and developing the first UV-absorbing dye for plastic eyeglass lenses.
The founder of Brain Power Inc., now the world’s largest manufacturer of optical dyes, and holder of over 100 patents previously made headlines at Monterey in 2025. That was when he dropped a staggering $26 million on the one-off Ferrari Daytona SP3 “Tailor Made” (chassis 599+1) featuring a distinctive Giallo Moderna carbon fiber livery with glossy black details.
While purists continue to debate whether a silent, four-door Ferrari is visionary or blasphemous, that astronomical $40 million payload isn’t just lining corporate pockets. As Ferrari’s Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer Massimiliano Di Silvestre confirmed at Monterey, every single cent will go directly to the Ferrari Foundation to fund the M-Tech Alfredo Ferrari Campus. Spanning 52,000 square meters and scheduled to open in 2029, the facility will focus on cultivating young engineering talent.
