Investing.com -- Ferrari shares dropped sharply on Wednesday after the Italian automaker unveiled the controversial exterior design of its first all-electric model, the Luce, but Barclays analyst Henning Cosman is urging investors not to overreact, calling the selloff excessive and framing the design gamble as a deliberate and strategically sound move.

Ferrari shares underperformed the SXAP index by 9% in the day and a half following the Luce launch.

"We view this as an excessive reaction," Barclays wrote, noting that the Luce is just one of 20 planned model launches between 2026 and 2030, and will represent only around 3.5% of unit sales when it enters volume production in 2027.

The Luce is a four-door, five-seat, fully electric Ferrari producing more than 1,000 brake horsepower, capable of 0-100 km/h in 2.5 seconds and priced at €550,000 before personalization.

Its exterior, co-developed with design firm LoveFrom, led by former Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive and designer Marc Newson, drew significant media backlash for diverging sharply from Ferrari's classic aesthetic, following an extreme form-follows-function approach to reducing aerodynamic drag.

Barclays, which has an Overweight rating and EUR355 price target on Ferrari, acknowledged the controversy but said the move reflects a company confronting what Harvard professor Clayton Christensen called the Innovator's Dilemma.

The firm said it does not love the design but commends "the courage, addressing Innovator's Dilemma head on, even if core customers (and investors) might struggle near term," adding that it commends Ferrari's willingness "to (potentially) fail small near term rather than not trying to succeed."

Deliveries are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026.