Why electric cars haven’t earned the luxury badge

For decades, names like Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes, and BMW have embodied the essence of automotive luxury: power, emotion, craftsmanship. These brands were not just carmakers — they were cultural signifiers. Yet today, as they race toward electrification, something has gone missing. Their ambition is clear, but their strategy, especially when it comes to electric vehicles, reveals a fundamental misreading of what luxury truly means. Luxury is not a price point. It’s not horsepower, and it’s certainly not software. At its core, luxury is extreme value creation, defined entirely from the perspective of the client. This is where current strategies begin to unravel. Too many iconic brands have fallen into the trap of being product-first, engineer-led, and obsessed with performance metrics while neglecting the very people they are supposed to serve. The customer, the client, is too often an afterthought. Luxury autos lose their luster These brands once created vehicles that stood apart from everything else on the road. The first Porsche Cayenne was not just another SUV; it was a provocation, a statement, and a complete redefinition of the category. There was nothing like it. Today, however, most lineups feel like echoes of one another. The distance — whether in performance, aesthetics, or emotional impact — has collapsed. In some cases, quality itself has eroded. I recently drove the latest version of the Cayenne and was shocked at how cheap the materials felt and how bland the interior design had become. Moving the shifter to a tucked-away position near the steering wheel might make sense for an everyday car — but for a brand that claims to sell sports cars? It feels entirely misplaced. In a viral TikTok video, someone peeled back a panel inside a Lamborghini Urus — only to reveal parts stamped with the Audi rings. Moments like this create a crisis of trust. And in the world of luxury, trust is the most valuable currency. Clients must trust that what they are buying is truly exceptional. That it will hold its value, emotionally and financially. That it was made with care, not just manufactured with efficiency. They want to trust the craftsmanship, the performance, the experience, and, above all, that this object is worth their time, money, and passion. And here lies the uncomfortable truth: electric cars have not yet earned that trust. Why EVs struggle to gain client trust This isn’t about nostalgia for the combustion engine — it’s about something deeper. Today’s electric vehicles are not timeless objects of desire. Rather, they are fast-aging tech products, with a life span dictated by battery degradation, software obsolescence, and rapidly shifting feature expectations. They don’t inspire confidence that they’ll be kept for decades, become collectible, or retain lasting value. The luxury buyer does not want to feel like they are purchasing the automotive equivalent of last year’s phone. There’s also the issue of inconvenience. Charging infrastructure remains uneven, and range anxiety persists. Long-distance travel requires advance planning that feels incompatible with the spontaneity, freedom, and confidence that a true luxury car should enable. Add to this the uninspiring customer experience. Across the industry, the dealership model still fails to deliver any sense of hospitality, understanding, or intimacy. Too often, it feels like a cold transaction, far removed from the emotional connection that luxury is meant to foster. Moreover, there’s a creeping arrogance that has taken hold in some brands — and their salespeople — during years of success. Clients sense it. They feel taken for granted. And in a world where options are multiplying, that kind of complacency becomes fatal. Arrogance is never luxurious. If anything, it’s the antithesis of what modern luxury demands: humility, empathy, and the ability to listen. Even Ferrari, a brand that rarely missteps, is now rumored to be delaying its electric roadmap due to a lack of demand. This is not an isolated Porsche, Mercedes, or Audi problem. This is a category-wide reckoning. The idea that the magic of a luxury brand will automatically transfer to an electric platform has proven naïve. Clients are not buying it, literally or emotionally. So, what is the way forward? Luxury brands must stop treating electric vehicles as engineering marvels to be sold on specs alone. They must reinvent what electric luxury actually feels like. This starts with creating a product that stirs emotion, not just admiration. It means offering materials and designs that delight the senses, not just fulfill a function. It demands a complete rethinking of the client experience at every touchpoint, from first inquiry to long-term ownership. Most importantly, it requires rebuilding trust. A luxury electric car should feel like a forever purchase, not a temporary upgrade. Brands must also redefine who they are in the electric age. After more than a century of selling engines, they now face the challenge of articulating an identity rooted in experience, emotion, and meaning rather than mechanical performance. This calls for radical creativity and the courage to develop products that are not only electric but truly differentiated. Serving luxury clients takes precision, empathy, and deep understanding. It cannot be improvised. It must be guided by strategy and supported by luxury training that equips teams to deliver extraordinary experiences consistently and intuitively. Many brands are quietly pivoting back toward gasoline, reversing course on electrification. But hoping that the engine alone will restore trust is dangerously naive. Once trust is broken, it must be fundamentally rebuilt, not nostalgically retrieved. The greater strategic error is that by abandoning electric without solving the customer experience, brands risk entering a future where they must compete on all fronts — without clarity, conviction, or the unwavering loyalty that once defined them. That is not a winning formula; it is a dilemma. One that only bold vision, not backward steps, can resolve. This is an opinion piece by Daniel Langer, CEO of Équité, recognized as one of the “Global Top Five Luxury Key Opinion Leaders,” and advisor to some of the most iconic luxury brands in the world. He serves as an executive professor of luxury strategy and pricing at Pepperdine University in Malibu and as a professor of luxury at NYU, New York. Daniel has authored best-selling books on luxury management in English and Chinese, and is a respected global keynote speaker. Daniel conducts in-person masterclasses on various luxury topics across the world. As a luxury expert featured on Bloomberg TV, Forbes, The Economist, and others; Daniel holds an MBA and a Ph.D. in luxury management, and has received education from Harvard Business School. Sign up for his online luxury masterclasses at the Jing Academy.

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Why electric cars haven’t earned the luxury badge