Ferrari’s new sportscar, the Luce (pronounced Loo-che), raises some interesting questions about the future of hi-tech, high-cost supercars in the electric era.
The Italian sportscar maker’s first move into the electric vehicle (EV) segment – with an eye on the Chinese luxury market – signals strategic pragmatism rather than ideological continuity.
Compounding this is the decision to collaborate with LoveFrom, the company founded by Apple’s former design supremo Sir Jony Ive. Ferrari has imported a design philosophy from outside the automotive world that appears to sit uneasily with its historically internalised design culture.
At US$535,000 (£400,000), the Luce is insulated from conventional market scrutiny. It will most likely sell out. That outcome is assured by brand equity, scarcity and speculative luxury consumption.
Yet commercial success should not be conflated with brand legitimacy. The critical question is not whether the Luce succeeds as a product, but whether it succeeds as a Ferrari.
Rational design v emotional deficit
Any assessment of the Luce must acknowledge the constraints imposed by being electrically powered. This introduces a series of fundamental design compromises – most notably, weight penalties.
Ferrari’s legacy is rooted in lightness, precision and immediacy. Electric vehicles, by contrast, privilege stability, silence and computational control. The Luce, as a large four-door sedan, amplifies these contradictions.
It offers generous space for four adults, improved ingress and egress (its petrol-driven predecessors were famously tricky to climb into, despite the cost) and a suite of innovations aligned with luxury mobility.
These are markers of design functionality, usability and comfort. Yet Ferrari – by a distance the world’s most profitable sportscar brand – has never been defined by rational competence.
Its identity resides in the immediate emotional charge of encounter. The sculptural tension of its surfaces, the auditory drama of its engines, the sense of latent aggression even at rest. In design theory terms, this is the domain of instinctive, sensory response. And it is here that the Luce appears deficient.
The widespread negative reaction, including from past owners – that “this is not a Ferrari” – is not simply nostalgia or resistance to change. It represents a failure of instant recognition and emotional impact.
The Luce does not provoke, it resolves. Its typology demands comfort and accommodation. Its propulsion system introduces physical characteristics that run counter to Ferrari’s historic emphasis on kinetic intensity.
Contemporary high-performance EVs routinely carry battery packs exceeding 500-700kg, resulting in vehicle weights that often surpass 2½ tonnes. This has profound implications for a car’s driving agility and responsiveness, particularly in corners and under braking – characteristics that are the essence of any self-respecting sportscar.
Design error?
Ferrari’s design language has historically emerged from an interplay of engineering constraint, racing heritage and stylistic evolution. By contrast, the Luce appears to impose a different aesthetic.
The involvement of Ive and fellow industrial design giant Marc Newson introduces a design language characterised by reduction, clarity and formal restraint. This philosophy has proven highly successful in product design, where usability and material precision dominate.
But its translation into automotive design, particularly with a brand like Ferrari, has proved controversial. It would be interesting to know how much input and influence Ferrari’s chief design officer, Flavio Manzoni, and his team had in the Luce’s gestation.
The limitations of the Luce are further exposed through comparison. Porsche’s Taycan has shown how brand identity can be preserved within an electric framework. Similarly, the Jaguar I-Pace, though more radical in typology, maintains a sculptural dynamism consistent with Jaguar’s design heritage.
Both vehicles succeed because they understand that technological change must be anchored in emotional continuity. In contrast, the Luce appears to prioritise conceptual clarity over sensory resonance.
An overlooked power alternative
The Luce’s emergence also raises broader questions about technological commitment. Battery-electric vehicles have, for now, achieved dominance, but they are not the only pathway to decarbonisation.
Hydrogen-based powertrains, particularly hydrogen internal combustion engines, offer an alternative model that may align more closely with performance-oriented brands.
While hydrogen infrastructure remains underdeveloped, its potential lies in preserving elements of the visceral and sensory experience that define marques like Ferrari – including a roaring engine and responsive handling – as well rapid refuelling times.
In 2024, automotive and transport design students at Coventry University were challenged to design a clean-energy supercar for the British manufacturer Riversimple. The result was a lightweight prototype design that used an innovative hydrogen powertrain to prioritise the driving experience.
Full electrification risks erasing these qualities in favour of efficiency and refinement. So, Ferrari’s commitment to battery-electric power appears to reflect a narrowing of its drivers’ experiential possibilities. The Luce risks being a product shaped as much by infrastructural momentum as design intent.
An existential question
The Luce still represents a strategic success. It secures Ferrari’s entry into the EV market and aligns the brand with global sustainability narratives. Its association with LoveFrom enhances its reflective value, positioning it as an object of intellectual as well as financial capital.
But it also exposes a deeper tension.
EV platforms impose constraints – particularly on weight and the driving experience – that challenge the foundations of Ferrari’s identity.
Alternative powertrains – including hydrogen internal combustion engines – and the use of biofuels such as those now adopted in Formula 1, suggest that different pathways could help preserve more of the brand’s experiential core.
Ultimately, the question is not whether Ferrari can build an electric luxury sedan – it clearly can. The question is whether, in doing so within the limits of current EV architectures, it can still produce something that feels unmistakably like a Ferrari.
