Ferrari’s First EV, the $640,000 Luce, Fails to Impress

Summary

WSJ What’s News — Ferrari’s First EV, the $640,000 Luce, Fails to Impress

Date: May 26, 2026
Host: Imani Moiz for The Wall Street Journal

---

Episode Overview

This episode delivers a fast-paced roundup of business, economics, political, and cultural headlines with a focus on the day’s standout stories. Key topics include the disputed debut of Ferrari’s first electric vehicle, turbulence in BP’s leadership, housing market pressures from commodity prices, the fiscal impact of weight loss drugs, and unexpected developments in Texas and Los Angeles politics. The reporting is direct and data-driven, blending expert interviews with news summaries for a rapid yet nuanced listen.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. BP Leadership Turmoil & Market Impact

• [00:33]
  • BP removes chairman Albert Manifold after allegations of verbal abuse and sharing privileged information.
  • Board’s decision follows quick executive turnover: “The company has now had three chief executives and three chairmen since 2023.”
  • BP shares fell 4% in both London and Spain following the news.

2. Housing Market Squeeze: Commodity Cost Surge

• [01:34 – 05:20]
  • Guest: Ryan Dezember, WSJ reporter
  • Inflation’s new twist: Material costs (copper, lumber, diesel) for homebuilders have surged, outpacing gains over the prior three years in just the first four months of 2026.
  • Quote:
    • “The average American home has more than 400 pounds of copper. You know, at record prices for copper, that adds up.” – Ryan Dezember [03:23]
  • Builders are cautious about passing costs to buyers, balancing higher input costs with incentives to move inventory amidst high interest rates.
  • AI & Data Centers Connection:
    • Data centers’ massive copper demand for wiring is straining global supply, with disruptions like Indonesia’s mudslide further tightening markets.
    • “Data centers consume a huge amount of copper and there’s only so much copper in a given year that’s produced.” – Ryan Dezember [04:40]
    • EV expansion and electrification efforts compete directly with housing for limited resources.

3. Iran Negotiates Amid Clash With U.S.

• [05:28 – 06:16]
  • Despite heightened military tensions, Iran remains engaged in talks seeking access to frozen assets and oil markets, aiming for economic relief without giving the Trump administration a diplomatic win.
  • President Trump’s cabinet set to meet at Camp David to discuss the economy, fraud, and foreign policy.

4. Weight Loss Drugs & Municipal Budgets

• [06:50 – 09:01]
  • Guest: Owen Tucker Smith, WSJ reporter
  • Local governments—from New York to Texas—are financially strained by covering GLP-1 drugs (e.g., Ozempic, Wegovy) for employees.
  • Case Study: Belchertown, Mass. received a crippling mid-year rate increase to cover soaring healthcare costs—$900,000 for a town of 15,000.
  • Quote:
    • “You often have to dip into your reserves…even if you personally aren’t using GLP-1s, you might feel the impact.” – Owen Tucker Smith [08:05]
  • Towns cutting back: some now limit coverage strictly to diabetes, not weight loss, as leaders hope for eventual price drops or greater out-of-pocket access.

5. Texas Senate Runoff Heats Up

• [09:01 – 09:56]
  • Guest: Elizabeth Fendel, WSJ reporter
  • Republican Senate runoff: John Cornyn vs. Ken Paxton (Trump-endorsed), winner faces Democrat James Talarico.
  • Quote:
    • “It is seen as significant that Texas is even being viewed as somewhat in play this year. Democrats have not won a statewide seat in Texas since 1994.” – Elizabeth Fendel [09:21]
  • GOP worries Paxton’s controversies could make the race—and defending Texas—more costly or risky than expected.

6. Reality TV Star Shakes Up LA Mayor Race

• [09:56 – 10:58]
  • Spencer Pratt, controversial “Hills” alum, launches a high-profile, social media-friendly Republican campaign after losing his home in the Palisades fire.
  • Pratt positions himself as an outsider on homelessness, public safety, city dysfunction.
  • Quotes:
    • “My life got flipped, turned upside down and I had to take a minute to run for mayor. I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air.” – Spencer Pratt [10:31]
    • “So if you’re just like a young 20-year-old looking around, you’re like, oh my God, there’s zombies everywhere…this system doesn’t work. But what they’re not looking at is who’s breaking the system that did work, the one I grew up in.” – Spencer Pratt [10:44]
  • LA's mayoral runoff likely, with incumbent Karen Bass leading; Pratt battles Nithya Raman for a slot in November.

7. Ferrari’s First Electric Vehicle — Investor & Fan Backlash

• [10:58 – 13:07]
  • Ferrari debuts the all-electric $640,000 “Luce,” co-designed by ex-Apple designer Jony Ive.
  • Immediate backlash among fans and investors, with shares plummeting 8% ($5B in market value).
  • Guest: Ben Katz, WSJ reporter
  • Quote:
    • “We’ve seen a lot of…trolling you might expect to see online...but also posts from people who are collectors who are really skeptical about the exterior design of this Ferrari.” – Ben Katz [11:50]
    • Ferrari hopes the outrage will subside as it did with their SUV, but the loss of iconic engine sound remains divisive:
      • “Ferrari describes this car as having an external amplification system…kind of akin to an electric guitar. They don't want to manufacture the sound of a combustion engine…but want people to be able to hear the electric motors at work.” – Ben Katz [12:50]
  • Questions linger about whether the "Ferrari of old" is being lost to electrification’s new era.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On commodity prices and the housing market:
  • “The average American home has more than 400 pounds of copper. You know, at record prices for copper, that adds up.” – Ryan Dezember [03:23]
• On new pressures in city budgets:
  • “Even if you personally aren’t using GLP-1s, you might feel the impact if you have a child in the school district and they’re going to in some way feel the impact of these budget cuts.” – Owen Tucker Smith [08:05]
• On Ferrari’s reputation crisis:
  • “Maybe this isn’t the Ferrari of old. Maybe there’s something new here that we aren’t quite aligned with.” – Ben Katz [11:50]
• Pop culture politics:
  • “My life got flipped, turned upside down and I had to take a minute to run for mayor. I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air.” – Spencer Pratt [10:31]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• BP leadership shakeup: 00:33
• Housing/materials inflation: 01:34–05:20
• Iran-US negotiations: 05:28–06:16
• GLP-1 drug costs and budgets: 06:50–09:01
• TX Republican Senate runoff: 09:01–09:56
• LA Mayoral race/Spencer Pratt: 09:56–10:58
• Ferrari EV backlash: 10:58–13:07

---

This episode blends business analytics with political insight and cultural pulse, offering an engaging lens on the forces moving markets, shaping cities, and roiling iconic brands worldwide.

Transcript

[Mississippi Economic Development Official]

Mississippi is breaking new ground for business at a historic pace. Amazon, xai, Toyota, Milwaukee Tool and GE Aerospace have all tapped into our deep talent pool, prime geographic location and welcoming communities. This is bigger than megasites. Mississippi offers a thriving business ecosystem with affordability, greater collaboration with energy partners and record breaking speed to market. Looking to expand? Break New Ground at Mississippi.org.

[Imani Moiz]

British energy company BP removes its chairman after concerns about bullying plus the housing market's latest problem, soaring costs from materials

[Ryan Dezember]

like copper, data centers, the EV makers, the electrification build out is colliding with

[Imani Moiz]

home builders and Ferrari launched its first electric car. The $640,000 Luce failed to impress investors. It's Tuesday, March 26th. I'm Imani Moiz for the Wall Street Journal, filling in for Alex Osola. This is the PM edition of what's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. We start today's show with leadership turmoil at bp. The British energy giant has removed its chairman, Albert Manifold. WSJ has learned that the board was told he was verbally abusive to both junior and senior employees. The board also believes that he shared privileged information with people who weren't supposed to have it. Manifold didn't respond to requests for comment. The company has now had three chief executives and three chairmen since 2023. BP shares today dropped 4% in London and in Spain. Jonathan Andick, the vice president of fashion chain Mango, is temporarily leaving his role. Last week, a judge accused him of being criminally responsible for his billionaire father's fatal fall during a hiking trip near Barcelona. Andick said today that he was stepping aside to focus his energy on proving his innocence. Mango chief executive Tony Ruiz says he supports Jonathan andyk. He said that he expects that the judicial process will be resolved quickly and favorably. Turning to aviation Delta Air Lines is scrambling to hire more pilots. A jump in flight cancellations is jeopardizing its reputation for reliability. Data from aviation analytics firm Cirium show Delta's domestic cancellation rate has been running above the industry average. And the airline's senior vice president of flight operations, Ryan Gumm, said in an April memo that cancellations tied to pilot availability are happening at more than 10 times historical levels. Delta is now trying to shore up operations ahead of the busy summer travel season. Stock markets were mixed today, with gains in chip and memory stocks helping the Nasdaq close up 1.2%. The S& P also climbed, while The Dow slipped 0.2%. In the housing market, high prices for materials are making it more expensive for companies to build homes. WSJ reporter Ryan dezember joins us now to discuss how the run up in commodities is making an affordability crisis even worse. So, Ryan, we've been feeling the burn of inflation for a while now, but the latest data is pretty staggering. In your story, one economist says that prices for materials used in homes like copper and wood red rose more in the first four months of 2026 than they did over the entire previous three years combined. So how's that impacting the housing market?

[Ryan Dezember]

You know, it takes a while for this stuff to flow through. But what we're seeing now is some of the builders biggest costs after the land and the construction labor are the materials. Lumber. Copper. The average American home has more than 400 pounds of copper. You know, at record prices for copper, that adds up. Aluminum is nearing record prices. You also, of course, have the fuel costs. Diesel's up roughly 50% from before the war started. And so you have a lot of that being passed on. So it's all adding up and really adding to the price tag for building a home.

[Imani Moiz]

Does that mean that the price tag for home buyers is also going to go up?

[Ryan Dezember]

Pulte, one of the big home builders, talked about this on their last earnings call where, you know, they're very careful to say the cost of building a home is going up. They haven't necessarily committed to passing all that on for the past really two years or so with high interest rates. We've had builders giving a lot of concessions to buyers to get home sold and keep their crews moving and building. We could see more of that. So it's sort of to be determined on whether that will balloon the price tag that homebuyers pay later this year or if builders will absorb some of that.

[Imani Moiz]

The war and tariffs have pushed prices for some materials higher, but also the AI boom. Can you connect the dots between AI and housing?

[Ryan Dezember]

Well, it's a copper wire, basically. Data centers consume a huge amount of copper and there's only so much copper. And in a given year that's produced, you also have a big disruption going on right now. The world's second largest mine, it's in Indonesia. There was a fatal mudslide last year. While the mine has been restarted on time, the full output will take longer because of some additional problems. So that's a big chunk of copper that the world won't have. So that's an example of a building product where data centers, the EV makers, the electrification build out is colliding with home builders.

[Imani Moiz]

That was WSJ reporter Ryan December. Thanks, Ryan.

[Ryan Dezember]

Thank you.

[Imani Moiz]

Turning to the war, Iran is staying at the negotiating table with the US despite fresh military clashes. Tehran is pushing for access to frozen assets to ease pressure on its battered economy and to access world oil markets. Iranian officials and Arab mediators say the country is trying to strike a delicate balance, securing economic relief without giving President Trump a clear diplomatic win. A White House official says President Trump has scheduled a cabinet meeting at Camp David tomorrow. The agenda will include the economy and an anti fraud task force, as well as foreign policy. Coming up, weight loss drugs are blowing holes in city budgets across the country. Plus the latest reality TV star hoping to turn ratings into votes. That's after the break.

[Charles Schwab Announcer]

Trading at Schwab is now powered by Ameritrade, giving you even more specialized support than ever before, like access to the trade desk. Our team of passionate traders ready to tackle anything from the most complex trading questions to a simple strategy. Gut check. Need assistance? No problem. Get 24. 7 professional answers and live help and access support by phone, email and in platform chat. That's how Schwab is here for you to help you trade brilliantly. Learn [e-mail] trading.

[Imani Moiz]

Breakthrough Weight loss drugs are helping people drop pounds across the country, but at what cost? Public employers, that is. Cities and towns from New York to Texas say GLP1 medications like Ozempic and WeGovy are putting in enormous pressure on already stretched budgets, squeezing money for local needs like roads and schools. WSJ reporter Owen Tucker Smith spoke with officials in Belchertown, Massachusetts, where this issue recently came to a head.

[Owen Tucker Smith]

Belchertown gets its health care through this kind of regional trust where a lot of towns pool together their resources. But their healthcare costs were going out of control and they realized that a big part of it was the surging cost of GLP1s. And it got so bad that the trust reserves were starting to run out. And last year they sent out these notices to towns like Beltertown telling them this is unsustainable and we're needing everyone to basically chip in in the middle of the year. So they imposed a mid year rate increase which crippled a lot of these towns finances. Belchertown got hit with roughly $900,000 of expenses and this is a town of just 15,000. So 900,000 is a lot of money for them to find and they're already

[Imani Moiz]

stretched thin budget Owen says when health care costs jump this fast, there are consequences for the towns.

[Owen Tucker Smith]

You often have to dip into your reserves. And so it's harder for a city to say let's you know, do that big bridge repair that we'd been talking about or let's increase hiring. So even if you personally aren't using GLP1s, you might feel the impact if you have a child in the school district and they're going to in some way feel the impact of these budget cuts. In many cases these towns are starting to cut coverage or say you can only use these drugs and get them covered by us if you are diabetic, not just for weight loss. While the direct to consumer prices can be lower than they were once, they as employers and their health insurance plans are still paying these higher prices. But they are optimistic that as these prices come down, a it'll be less of a burden on a city, but B if they do cut coverage, their employees might be more able to access the drugs on their own.

[Imani Moiz]

As you heard this morning, voters in Texas are headed to the polls today. There's a closely watched Republican Senate runoff between incumbent Senator John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who won Trump's endorsement. The winner will face Democrat James Talarico in November. NWSJ reporter Elizabeth Fendel says the race is giving Republicans some headaches.

[Elizabeth Fendel]

It is seen as significant that Texas is even being viewed as somewhat in play this year. Democrats have not won a statewide seat in Texas since 1994. So the prospect of Paxton as a nominee has been concerning to a lot of national Republican groups because he has a history of past controversies. And so it's possible he could make them more vulnerable in Texas or they could just have to stay, spend a heck of a lot of money for him to win, which could affect how they are able to defend other states.

[Imani Moiz]

Polls close tonight at 7pm Texas time. Go to WSJ.com for results and more analysis. And now we look at California where a former reality TV star, Spencer Pratt, known as the guy everyone loved to hate on the hills, is shaking up the Los Angeles mayor's race. Since losing his home in last year's Palisades fire, Pratt has launched an attention grabbing campaign focused on issues like homeless public safety and frustration with current city leadership. Pratt, a Republican, is running a flood the Zone campaign, heavy on social media moments.

[Spencer Pratt]

My life got flipped, turned upside down and I had to take a minute to run for mayor. I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air

[Imani Moiz]

and podcast appearances including the Joe Rogan Experience.

[Spencer Pratt]

So if you're just like a young 20 year old looking around, you're like, oh my God, there's zombies everywhere. Rents so much all the restaurants are closing. This system doesn't work. But what they're not looking at is who's breaking the system that did work, the one that I grew up in.

[Imani Moiz]

The city hasn't elected a Republican mayor in nearly three decades. And today fewer than 15% of Los Angeles city voters are registered Republicans. The current mayor, Karen Bass, is running for reelection. The latest polling shows she's leading the field. Pratt and City Council member Nithya Raman are battling for second place ahead of next week's primary. The the top two finishers will advance to a November election if no candidate wins a majority of votes. And finally, are ultra wealthy car buyers ready to trade horsepower for kilowatts? Ferrari's first all electric vehicle, the Luche, is a $640,000 car designed with former Apple designer Jony I've. And it sparked an uproar. Ferrari shares tumbled 8% today, wiping out more than $5 billion from the market cap of Europe's most valuable automaker. WSJ reporter Ben Katz explains a lot

[Ben Katz]

of that slump has really been driven by the backlash. We've seen a lot of, you know, the trolling that you might expect to see online, but we've also had some conversations with owners, seen some posts from people who are collectors who are really skeptical about specifically the exterior design of this Ferrari. Ferrari's saying, you know what, we did an suv. We once said we'd never do an suv. That also was criticized. And it ends up being one of their best selling vehicles. See a similar opportunity, an electric car, something they said 15 years ago they would never do. It's being slammed from kind of all sides. They're saying once that all calms down, we think we've got a winner on our hands. But of course, the initial reaction I think has kind of spooked investors a little bit, thinking, you know what, maybe this isn't the Ferrari of old. Maybe there's something new here that we aren't quite aligned with.

[Imani Moiz]

Ferrari stands for sports cars that you can hear before you actually see them. But Ferrari's new EV doesn't have a combustion engine to rev.

[Ben Katz]

Ferrari describes this car as having an external amplification system, which it describes as kind of akin to an electric guitar. They don't want to manufacture the sound of a combustion engine, you know, when it doesn't have a combustion engine, but it wants people to be able to hear the electric motors at work.

[Imani Moiz]

And that's what's news for this Tuesday afternoon. Today's show was produced by Anthony Bansi with supervising producer Talia Arbel. I'm Imani Moiz for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.

[Charles Schwab Podcast Host]

This episode is brought to you by Charles Schwab. Decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day. But what policy changes should investors be watching? Washington Wise is an original podcast from Charles Schwab that unpacks the stories making news in Washington right now and how they may affect your finances and portfolio. [e-mail] WashingtonWise.