We’ve officially entered a new automotive age that includes an electric Ferrari. In fact, it appears as if the brand actually leaked the design a few minutes ahead of time on its very own stream. That said, we knew it was coming. We saw disguised test vehicles roaming around Europe. Executives talked around it. Spy photographers chased camouflaged prototypes.
But there was always a sense that Maranello was buying itself more time before confronting what might be the biggest challenge in its modern history. Well, time’s up. Meet the Ferrari Luce.
Read: NASA Helped Ferrari Fix The Luce EV’s “Disturbing” Acceleration
Ferrari didn’t tiptoe into electrification either. Rather than building a low-volume experiment or a softened-up grand tourer, it has created something entirely new: a four-door, five-seat, four-motor EV making 1,050 hp (772 kW) and capable of hitting 62 mph (100 km/h) in just 2.5 seconds. That’s only marginally slower than a couple of American sedans that cost under $300,000.
The company says Luce (Italian for “light”) isn’t intended to be viewed as merely Ferrari’s EV. Instead, Maranello calls it a “Ferrari 360°,” a completely new product intended to broaden the brand without replacing combustion or hybrid models. To that end, it’s not a ‘supercar’ in the traditional sense, of course. Thanks to the EV architecture, this is the first Ferrari in history that can shuttle a driver and four passengers at the same time.
Exterior Styling
The shape is equally unconventional. Ferrari says the car is centered around an ultra-clean “glass house” design with floating front and rear aerodynamic wings. In reality, without the Ferrari badging, it would probably be tough for most everyday folks to tie this car back to the Prancing Horse brand.
Let’s start up front and work our way around. The Luce’s face features a huge frontal wing that mimics the good ol’ boys at Dodge with the Charger Daytona. There’s a secondary hood area behind it in gloss black and the two tones do tie the car to other modern cars within the Ferrari family. That said, the lighting and front fascia don’t really shout Ferrari in any way.
The Luce rides on gigantic 23-inch front and 24-inch rear wheels, the largest ever fitted to a production Ferrari road car. The overhangs are short, and behind the front wheels, you’ll find a large black panel that appears to be a vent for turbulent air in the wheel well. Beyond that, there’s not much to say of the side beyond the use of Tesla Cybertruck-style door poppers on the B-Pillar and, as we suspected, suicide doors for the rear occupants.
The rear gets more interesting as Ferrari says it takes its inspiration from the 360 Modena and 458 Italia. This might be where the strongest ties to brand DNA show up, but the lighting structure could cause some to think of the Nissan Skyline or even the Chevrolet Impala. None of this sounds very flattering, probably, but the reality is this… the designers Jony Ive and Marc Newson are famous mostly for their involvement with Apple.
The former was central to the design of the original iPhone, and the latter worked on the Apple Watch and various special editions. Today, the original iPhone is a flagship moment in design. The Luce probably won’t go down in the history books with as much gravity, but perhaps over the years it’ll age like fine wine.
* Developing story. We will update this post as more details land.
