The first production model of the electric Ferrari designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson has sold for $40 million – a record price for a new vehicle at auction.

The carmaker's polarising first foray into EVs, the Ferrari Luce, went under the hammer as part of a RM Sotheby's charity auction at Monterey Car Week in California.

The design, courtesy of former Apple designers Jony Ive and Marc Newson, proved controversial when it launched in May, with some commenters arguing that the design does not look enough like a Ferrari with its pared-back silhouette, four doors and five seats.

Pre-auction estimates suggested that the special-edition all-white Ferrari Luce would bring in $1.1 million at Sotheby's. But it went on to fetch $40 million (£29.6 million) – more than 60 times its already lofty retail price.

It marks a new record for a new car sold at auction, with all proceeds from the sale going towards educational initiatives through The Ferrari Foundation, Sotheby's said.

After the launch in May, Ferrari's share price initially dropped by eight per cent amid criticism over its design.

Among the critics was Ferrari's former chairman Luca di Montezemolo, who led the carmaker for 23 years until 2014.

"We're risking the destruction of a legend, and I'm truly sorry about that," he told Italian media. "I hope they at least remove the prancing horse."

Nevertheless, Ferrari sold out its entire 2026 target within only two months of launch, the Financial Times reported. The first of these cars will be delivered to customers in October, the company said last ​year.

"There are an enormous number of people who are just predisposed to not want to like this," Newson told Dezeen at the Luce's launch in May. "They haven't even seen the thing, let alone driven the thing."

"But the reality is people need to drive this car to really, really understand it, and I would urge people, before they pass those sorts of judgments, to try it."

In many ways, the Ferrari Luce is a meeting of giants. Former Apple design boss Jony Ive and his longtime collaborator Marc Newson are, in their own right, two of the most influential industrial designers of our time.

And the car is the first to be designed by the duo as part of their joint studio LoveFrom, which they founded after leaving Apple in 2019.

Newson is no stranger to setting records at auction. The Australian industrial designer is also responsible for creating the most expensive furniture piece ever sold at auction by a living designer.