by Wallace Wyss –
It seems contradictory–here’s Ferrari, a company famous for its piston engines, making an electric vehicle. Methinks they did it in case the Greens got anti-internal combustion laws passed. They wanted to keep their showroom open until they could adapt their whole line.
I wish I could say their EV has the excitement of their piston engine cars do. But I can’t say that. It ‘s mundane.
The Luce rides on an entirely new platform, using no less than four electric motors to produce up to 1,050 horsepower. Ferrari promises it is a driver’s car. But the five seater sort of works against that.
The pricetag is unreal- €550,000—or about $640,000 at current conversion rates.
The car was not designed by Flavio Mazoni, head of Ferrari Design though he approved it. Instead it was assigned to a firm with the o-so-cute name of LoveFrom who were given full freedom to develop their philosophy and also their concept. They arrived with a complete, holistic proposal, covering the exterior, the interior, the user experience, and so on. Ferrari’s Chief Design Officer admitted “It’s a proposal characterized by a different approach, a different language, which comes from high-tech industrial design.”
LoveFrom most famous designer is Jony Ive who led the design of iconic and category-defining products including the Apple iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Added to the mix in 2024 was Marc Newson, a famous designer.
Here’s my impression based on photos:
FRONT Very bland like any generic Japanese or Korean car. Nothing about it says “Ferrari”.
The windshield looks like it’s descending under the hood, an effect done with black paint. Interesting but not enough to save the car. Almost like a small fastback car crashed through the windshield of the Ferrari backwards.
SIDE Too short and stubby, needs another foot in length added to both front and rear. Too high off the ground, like it’s an off road car. Vent in side about one inch too wide.
REAR The four round taillights (strangely resembling Chevy taillights) is the only thing that says Ferrari. But the body surrounding the rear taillight panel seem like a smaller car is trapped in a bag of a larger car, the “inside car” being, say, a 1968 Corvette.
INTERIOR Modernized but bland like some under $10,000 Chinese car.
IN SUM The Luce is not worthy of the Ferrari name and hurts the image of a producer of svelte exotic cars. It looks like a $40,000 Japanese or Korean SUV. I think if Ferrari would have known EVs will fall in popularity when they first started on this project they would have cancelled it. Ferrari stock tumbled over $3 billion the day the car was press previewed. The press stories on this car will be a true test of Ferrari journalists. If they won’t speak their real opinions just so they can retain the opportunity to test drive piston engine Ferraris it will reveal their motives. They have been bought off…
Speaking with the press recently, Luca di Montezemolo, the 78-year-old former Ferrari CEO shared his take on the Luce. Italian news agency askanews quoted di Montezemolo as saying:
‘If I were to say what I really think, I’d be doing Ferrari a disservice. We risk destroying a legend, and I’m truly sorry about that. I hope they at least remove the prancing horse from that car.’
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR Wallace Wyss is presently engaged in picturing classic Ferraris in oils, on canvas. He can be reached at photojournalistpro2@gmail.com
A note from editor Mike Gulett –
A big question I have is how does one pronounce Luce?
Could it be “loose” or “lucy”?
No, neither is correct – after some research I discovered it is pronounced “LOO-chay”.
Luce is Italian for light in English.
Listen here –
Photos compliments of Ferrari.
Dear Wallace I have always admired your knowledge, opinion and aesthetic eye.
In the 21st Century we’ve all been there when the latest Ferrari doesn’t quite gel and then it grows on us so much that we regret not being at the front of the queue for one !
Most Ferrari people will have more than one horse in the stable and this will give them the electric option four electric motors 1000 hp and world class design team is very promising. Where I am from (Sydney) that price after taxes will be more than 1 million so it’s going to be the true believers that buy it.
This doubt was very evident with the Purosangue but now they are everywhere even at just shy of a million. Give them credit they have given us two normally aspirated V12s in the last catalogue so if they can do this well they are true magicians!
We await the road tests !
Well done on the pronunciation Mike I’m a native Italian speaker and LOO- chay is perfect our hero Di Montezemolo should be proud they almost named it after him Luc/e Luc/a The prancing horse stays !
Long live mycarquest !
No thank you.
Ferrari,
what a disgrace !!! I agree with Mr. Montezemolo “… remove the prancing horse from that car …”
The Ferrari tradition of teaming up with GREAT CAR BODYBUILDERS (Pininfarina, Bertone,Zagato, …) and GREAT CAR DESIGNERS (Gandini, Giugiaro, Fioravanti, Ramacciotti ..) it just “went down the tube” (Andare a rotoli).
This is Mr. Elkan, last of a series of blunders that HAVE DISTROYED the Italian Industrial Excellence: Iveco, Comau, Magneti Marelli, Fiat … and next is Ferrari !!
As for Mr.Jony Ive and his team, they should stay focused on Apple products (some of which are ALREADY passe’) instead of venturing in unknown (to them) territory for which they have NO background nor historical prospective, and deliver to Ferrari a “re-badged Apple Car” under the pretense of “holistic design of a car from a blank piece of paper” … WAKE UP … This is the Apple Car !!!
But this is just my opinion …
MG
I have to agree with Sr. Montezemolo. These tragedies happen when an auto company decides to use an outside firm with no concept (or automotive experience) of the marque’s heritage and raison d’etre and they come up with something like this.
Even Pontiac had the same experience when they brought in a bunch of techno geeks who brainstormed on pizza and beer and came up with the butt-ugly Aztek. And it didn’t sell!
I’m not against electric cars (but will never own one). But one designed by a company called LoveFrom (from the US Bay Area) is a very bad choice for the Prancing Horse. Remove the badge!
And to think:
“The “Dino” badge represents a fascinating sub-brand of Ferrari. Created to honor Enzo Ferrari’s late son, Alfredo “Dino” Ferrari, these cars were intentionally built with fewer than 12 cylinders and sold at a lower price point to compete with Porsche.
Because of this, Enzo decided they would wear the “Dino” badge rather than the prestigious Ferrari prancing horse.”
What would Enzo think of the shit box?
At least we know where all those fired Jaguar execs found new jobs. There are many problems with this thing, many of which you rose in the piece. First and foremost is the look. It isn’t exotic. It isn’t erotic. It doesn’t look like a Ferrari. Will it sell? Probably, because the sign out front says Ferrari. That is sad because it means that image has become more important than soul
This is a Ferarri.
It is fitting that the man who designed this monstrosity is famous in England for designing a quickly detachable clown nose, sold by the millions. The Luce is the clown nose of the car design world. by makng Ferrari a laughng stock But it’s not all bad–his clown nose is tied into charity and benefits many on Clown Nose Day.
Wrong management at wrong company. See
Harley Davidson.
No new ideas?
Make me another Lusso.