To say that the unveiling of the Ferrari Luce was the most divisive car reveal in history would be a lie, because it implies there’s a similarly sized crowd in love with the EV. No one of note has stepped into the firing line to defend the new Ferrari, and I’m not changing that today. With critiques from all-comers becoming the latest social media trend, I just need the vast majority of Luce haters to know that we’re not the same. So many are unaware of, or have forgotten, who Ferrari is actually selling cars to.
There was always going to be a contingent that would hate any EV that rolled out of Maranello, but Ferrari has to experiment to continue being culturally relevant. The brand can’t survive by pumping out Testarossas, F40s and 458 Italias until the heat death of the universe. It’s a business that relies on wealthy repeat customers. However, Ferrari’s designers and engineers took the packaging flexibility offered by an electric powertrain and went too far.
The Luce is an overly round facsimile of a Ferrari. There are memes comparing the EV to an Apple mouse, a less-than-subtle jab at Jony Ive. The former Apple chief design officer and his design firm LoveFrom were brought on board by Ferrari in 2021, with Marc Newson also having a big hand in its design. Despite this, the Luce’s exterior carries elements from Ferrari’s other recent models, like the also-criticized front black strip and linear headlights on F80, 12Cilindri and, 849 Testarossa. Those elements look especially out of place with EV being the Italian lovechild of a liftback sedan and crossover. Maybe Ferrari doesn’t know how to design anything anymore, including a race-winning F1 car.
No one is buying any Ferrari for the range or fuel economy
For me, the Luce immediately conjured memories of the Purosangue’s launch. Ferrari’s first SUV was derided for being ugly, which now sounds hilarious in retrospect. The arguments are different. After the looks, there’s a notion that a $640,000 price tag is too steep for the Luce, based solely on the spec sheet. Ferrari claimed that Luce has a range of 330 miles on the European WLTP test cycle. While middle of the road for current electric crossovers, range is not seriously an issue for people who buy cars from Ferrari. For comparison, the Purosangue has a 359-mile WLTP range with its 6.5-liter V12 engine.
The Luce likely won’t be the only car in its owners’ garages. The EV might not even be their only Ferrari — 80% of Ferrari buyers last year already owned at least one otjher Ferrari. The company’s loyal customers will likely place orders just because it’s Ferrari’s first EV. Others will buy one in the hopes of getting an invitation to order a future flagship hypercar from Maranello. The Luce won’t be remembered as a hit, but it’s still a Ferrari. The 1,035-hp EV is all-wheel drive but heavily biased to the rear to feel like an RWD machine. The interior looks like a retro-future take on the inside of an ’80s Ferrari. This debacle will all blow over by the time Ferrari disappoints us again with its next model, despite what Luca di Montezemolo has to say.
