An American billionaire and inventor will become the first owner of Ferrari’s new electric supercar after bidding $40m (£29.5m) in a charity auction.
Dr Herbert “Herbie” Wertheim, an optometrist who founded Brain Power Inc, bought the tailor-made Ferrari Luce at Monterey Car Week in California.
The 87-year-old’s winning bid – which was initially kept anonymous by auctioneer Sotheby’s – was 36 times the original auction estimate for the car, and set a record for a new vehicle sold under the hammer.
Ferrari’s new EV was designed by Sir Jony Ive, the former Apple creative guru, and Marc Newson, his business partner. It is billed as having “uncompromising performance, engagement and spaciousness”.
It was met with derision and a drop in the company’s share price when it was unveiled in May, with one former company executive branding it “an aesthetic and technological insult”.
But Dr Wertheim’s bid suggests there may still be a promising market for the new model, which is expected to sell for €550,000 (£470,000) commercially.
The self-made billionaire philanthropist, who is often seen sporting a bright red fedora, has a taste for fast cars. At the same event last year, he bought a tailor-made Ferrari Daytona SP3 for $26m.
All proceeds from both auctions went to The Ferrari Foundation, which supports education initiatives.
Dr Wertheim, who has a fortune of $4.9bn according to Forbes, is known for his colourful backstory and investing success.
He is dyslexic, struggled at school and grew up in a troubled home. After being charged with truancy aged 16, he took a judge’s offer to join the US navy, which he has credited with turning his life around.
Dr Wertheim went on to found Brain Power Inc, which makes optical tints for eyeglasses, and has since become a successful investor and noted philanthropist.
In 1977, he founded the Wertheim Family Foundation.
The charity has funded the construction of churches, zoos, libraries and research centres, as well as lecture series, scholarships and the performing arts, among other causes.
The father-of-two was recognised by the Horatio Alger Association as a “distinguished American” in 2011.
The association quoted Dr Wertheim saying: “Getting up every morning and doing what you want to do, that’s success. It doesn’t take money to be happy.
“Money just gives you more choices. If you make the choice of how you are going to spend your day, rather than someone else making that choice for you, then I call that success.”
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