Teslaes mock Ferrari in Italy

Although the Plaid and Performance versions of Tesla models can be considered real sports cars, the American manufacturer is not yet at the point of stepping into Ferrari’s territory. Honestly, these two brands are worlds apart, aside from both building cars.

While Ferrari’s communication is centered on passion, history, and refinement, Tesla’s approach oscillates between price cuts and technological feats in a chaotic mix. Let’s just acknowledge that they are two case studies urgently needing to be taught to marketing and communication students.

Tesla, the Italian Star

Take Friday, May 3rd, 2024, as an example. In its home base of Maranello, Ferrari revealed the 12Cilindri this morning, a masterpiece of elegance powered by a splendid 100% thermal V12, a modern homage to the legendary 365 Daytona. Exactly 15 km away, in Modena, we came face to face with a 100% electric Cybertruck from deep Texas, showing off at the Motor Valley Fest. Stealing the spotlight from a refined and elegant Italian diva isn’t exactly honorable, but what else can we expect from a big, somewhat rough Texan who isn’t even clean?

All this could be amusing at Ferrari if the next Tesla model announced wasn’t the Roadster. It’s a pipe dream, a project introduced in 2017, promised for 2020… and still absent. Little is known about this electric car, except that Elon Musk promises acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 1 second! Aside from Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz’s SF-24, which will start this weekend at the Miami Grand Prix, no car bearing the Prancing Horse lives up to that level.

Direct confrontation?

Mostly, Ferrari owners are content to roar their engines in tunnels to impress their passengers or pretend to be drag racers at toll booths, rarely exploiting more than a quarter of their cars’ capabilities in turns. So for engine noise, Tesla will never match Ferrari, that’s a given… unless the Roadster is equipped with thrusters developed by SpaceX! Don’t laugh, it’s a path being explored by Tesla at Elon Musk’s request. Regarding straight-line sensations, however, the Roadster could be more than suitable. It opens quite a broad field of possibilities for such a model, especially if its price is a quarter of that of an equivalent thermal model!

So let’s be sure that Tesla’s little demonstration this morning probably didn’t make many at Ferrari laugh.