Ferrari just unveiled their first EV, the Ferrari Luce. This 4-door, 5-seater Prancing Horse seems like the most accommodating Ferrari, even more than the Purosangue. It has a massive 122 kWh battery combined with four electric motors for an All-Wheel drivetrain. This allows the Luce to move from 0-100 km/h in 2.5 secs while having around 530 km of range and a maximum speed of 310 km/h.
They couldn’t enjoy the moment though. As of writing, there are reports about the brand’s shares tanking in both Milan and New York after the launch. There’s a lot of criticism towards the Luce and it points to one thing – the design.
The Luce was designed in collaboration with LoveFrom, the design studio by ex-Apple Chief Design Officer Sir Jony Ive and his collaborator Marc Newson. Ferraris launched prior to the Luce were designed in-house by Centro Stile Ferrari led by Ferrari Chief Design Officer Flavio Manzoni.
The thing is, this isn’t the first time that Ferrari asked for help from outside. They used to collaborate with Italian design studios that led to the iconic F40, Enzo, and Testarossa. So what’s different with LoveFrom?
In my opinion, it has to do with the project being a car and LoveFrom having a binned car project before.
Back in 2014, the tech space was abuzz when tech pundits started saying the same thing – Apple was working on a car. Apple didn’t verify anything officially but things aligned between several leakers.
It was internally known as “Project Titan” but commonly known as the “Apple Car.” It was supposed to be an all-electric and fully autonomous car from the iPhone maker. Apart from that, it made headlines every time someone is rumored to be poached into their fold. Engineers and personnel from Tesla, BMW, Red Bull Racing, even NASA among others apparently joined the Cupertino giant to make the car.
Ive left Apple in 2019, 5 years after the start of the rumored project. He then established LoveFrom design studio with Newson, his longtime collaborator (and was also brought into Apple in 2014 although it’s not determined if he also had a hand in the Apple Car project). They were still working with Apple for a few years after that until the Apple-LoveFrom partnership ended in 2022.
Meanwhile, Project Titan lost its direction. What’s supposed to be a fully-autonomous EV shifted into a conventional EV with more advanced safety features, until it was “officially” binned by Apple around 2024. Again, there was no official word from Apple but the tech sources shared the same news around that time.
And so we get into the Ferrari Luce. The biggest issue with its design, at least for the exterior, is that it doesn’t look like a Ferrari. Remove the badges on the car and you won’t think that it’s Italian. The 849 Testarossa, Amalfi, and F80 all have the signature Ferrari look – long, low, and cuts through air.
In contrast, the Luce looks like it stood still and let the air mold its body. It doesn’t seem as low, it looks more compact despite being longer than the three, has dull edges, and doesn’t have curvy hips that Ferraris have when they don’t have vents by the rear wheel wells. It looked like another car modified to accommodate design cues by the latest Ferraris designed by Centro Stile Ferrari.
The cabin also presents a massive deviation from the Ferrari design language. The enclosed space for the driver that was seen in the 849, Amalfi, and F80 were gone. In its place is the common driver-oriented layout featuring tablets for screens. They even removed the now signature front-passenger screen on the dashboard.
Sure, we commend the choice of having physical buttons in the Luce, but it’s not as if Ferrari are really doing away with that. The Luce’s cabin is more open, more casual, and doesn’t look like a space of a beast than can go 100 in 2.5.
Ferrari says this new design language is meant to unify the exterior, interior, and the interface of the screens “with clarity and refined simplicity.” Sorry but this is not a phone. A katana can cut through air, but you’ll need a handle for the owner. It’s the same with these cars. The exterior should cut, but the interior has to make the driver feel in control. Unifying their design means they cannot go to their extremes and leads to a weak compromise as we have seen. This is not a Ferrari but more like a rebadged Apple Car more than anything.
In an interview with Cleo Abram, Manzoni said “there is no design without innovation” and that people are too hooked up in the past without considering the future. Only he got too hooked up in the future and allowed external forces to shed everything that makes a Ferrari distinct inside and out.
