by Mike Gulett –
Are we running out of unique car design ideas? This is a question I have asked myself recently, especially after looking at pictures of the new Ferrari Luce.
Ferrari Luce
Looking at the history of automobile design, many of the major visual themes have been explored, maybe completely:
- The flowing Art Deco streamliners of the 1930s: Chrysler Airflow.
- The chrome-and-tailfins of the 1950s: many Cadillacs.
- The muscular performance shapes of the 1960s and 1970s: Ford Mustangs and Chevrolet Camaros.
- The beautiful sports car shapes of the ‘60s and ‘70s: Jaguar E-Type.
- The wedge-shaped supercars: Lamborghini Countach.
- The aerodynamic, rounded forms of the 1980s and 1990s: Porsche, Ferrari and others.
- The minimalist EV aesthetic: Tesla and others.
After more than 130 years of designing and building automobiles, car designers are working within a well-explored style library. It is more and more difficult to create something new.
Ferrari Luce
The technical constraints also must be accommodated. Modern cars must satisfy crash regulations, pedestrian safety standards, aerodynamic efficiency, battery packaging requirements, and manufacturing cost targets. These limitations and requirements guide many designs toward similar looks.
Ferrari Luce
The new Ferrari Luce is a good example of why we may not be running out of design ideas but may be running out of good design ideas. The negative reaction to the Luce demonstrates just how difficult it is to introduce a genuinely different Ferrari design in a world where Ferrari lovers have strong expectations of what a Ferrari should look like.
- It isn’t a traditional mid-engine Ferrari.
- It isn’t really a sedan.
- It isn’t quite a wagon or shooting brake.
- It isn’t an SUV like the Ferrari Purosangue (although it could be considered a small SUV).
Instead, Ferrari and the design team led by Jony Ive and Marc Newson followed an architectural approach enabled by an electric drivetrain, emphasizing aerodynamics, cabin space, and a sort of teardrop shape.
Many Ferrari lovers have criticized the Luce because it does not resemble previous Ferraris. Some designers and collectors believe that it lacks the emotion associated with Ferrari’s long partnership with studios such as Pininfarina.
Ferrari Luce
The Luce raises an important question:
When enthusiasts say they want “new and different,” do they really mean it?
History suggests the answer may be “no”.
Some cars that were initially criticized for being too radical later became icons:
- Citroën DS
- Lamborghini Countach
- Porsche 928
- Ferrari FF
All were controversial when introduced. Today they are recognized as trend setters.
Whether the Luce ever joins that list remains to be seen. Its success may depend less on its styling than on whether Ferrari owners come to see electric propulsion and a new design language as compatible with the Ferrari experience. Ferrari is positioning the Luce as an expansion of the brand rather than a replacement for its gas powered cars.
It is possible that fifty years from now enthusiasts may look back at the Luce the way we now look at the Citroën DS or Porsche 928—not as a car that followed any tradition but as a car that created a whole new tradition. This may come true for the Luce but I have my doubts. Can we wait fifty years to learn to appreciate the Ferrari Luce?
The Ferrari Luce is more likely to wind up in the same category as the Ford Edsel and the AMC Pacer – bad designs when new and still bad designs decades later.
Ford Edsel
AMC Pacer
What do you think – should the Ferrari Luce be thought of in the same category as the Citroën DS and Porsche 928 or the Ford Edsel and AMC Pacer?
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
Research and some text by ChatGPT 5.2.
Last interesting car from Ferrari is the F 40.
This design and its price does not make me desire to own one. I get the sense of a banal equality.