Ferrari says AI boom is driving demand for personalised supercars

Ferrari said it expected to generate more profit than expected this year after customers, including the new AI super-rich, splurged on expensive custom features for their supercars.The Italian luxury group became the only European carmaker to lift its full-year guidance with its order book covered for the whole of 2027, as it rides a wave of hyper-personalisation.Chief executive Benedetto Vigna said the new AI wealth was “a good opportunity” for Ferrari, although he added that the company was seeing greater interest “from all the clients, not only from the AI situation, to personalise more and more cars”.Ferrari said it now expected an adjusted operating profit of at least €2.26 billion (US$2.6 billion; S$3.34 billion) this year rather than €2.22 billion, giving the group an industry-beating margin of at least 29.5 per cent. The results help settle nerves among investors about whether Ferrari would be able to maintain its ultra-high profit levels as the industry shifts to electric vehicles. Ferrari's first fully electric car "Luce" in this handout image obtained by Reuters May 25, 2026, after the luxury sports car maker unveiled the model. (Photo: Ferrari/Handout via REUTERS) Vehicle shipments during the second quarter fell 3.7 per cent from a year earlier to 3,366 units but the company’s operating profit rose 10 per cent to €605 million due to spending to customise vehicles. Analysts also said Ferrari was in a good position to capture demand from new customers emerging from the wealth created by the surge in artificial intelligence-related shares in the US. Among its special-edition models, Bernstein analyst Stephen Reitman said the 296 Speciale was probably enjoying “extremely high levels of personalisation, especially in the USA”. The Ferrari 296 Speciale. (Photo: Ferrari) “A good set of results and a small raise in guidance were certainly welcome after concerns have been raised about the health of the luxury consumer and about the cadence of Ferrari’s own margin development,” Reitman said, predicting that the group was likely to raise its guidance again in the third quarter.Vigna said the personalisation demand was driven both by “aesthetics” needs, such as the type of leather, and “functional” needs such as the number of cameras in a vehicle. Ferrari’s chief financial officer Antonio Picca Piccon said personalisation was likely to account for more than 20 per cent of its annual revenue.Regarding demand for its first electric vehicle model, Vigna said he was satisfied with the level of uptake, which he claimed was coming from various regions across the world. But he declined to comment on how many EVs had been sold so far.The FT reported on Wednesday (Jul 29) that Ferrari achieved this year’s sales target for the Luce off the back of strong demand from China despite a polarising design that drew a backlash from investors and enthusiasts. By Kana Inagaki © 2026 The Financial Times.This article originally appeared in The Financial Times. Source: Financial Times/bt