Ferrari is different from other carmakers, and so are its product launches. So revered is the company in its native Italy that among the first people to sit behind the wheel of its first electric vehicle were the country’s president, and the pope.
Yet judging by the backlash from investors, some critics and – inevitably – a horde of online commenters, the sportscar manufacturer may need help from a higher power if it is to win over its traditional fanbase.
The Luce (pronounced “loo-chey”, Italian for “light”) is priced for the super-wealthy, at €550,000 (£476,000), with an electric motor for each wheel and the ability to get from zero to 100km/h in 2.5 seconds. But the design, led by the former Apple executive Jony Ive, has proven controversial. It is certainly unlike any Ferrari has made before.
What are people saying?
Pope Leo may have held back from commenting directly, but on social media the responses have ranged from raised eyebrows to spitting outrage – and Ferrari’s share price is down 8% this week. The pastel blue shade used for launch imagery drew unwelcome comparisons to the latest version of the Nissan Leaf, a mass-market electric car that also happened to launch in a similar shade and starting at just £32,250.
“Aesthetically speaking, it speaks for itself,” said Matteo Salvini, Italy’s transport minister and leader of the far-right Northern League party, in a post on X. Referring to the carmaker’s founder, he added: “I wonder what Enzo Ferrari would say.”
Perhaps the most notable criticisms came from the 78-year-old Luca di Montezemolo, who led Ferrari for 23 years until 2014.
“If I had to say what I really think, I would be hurting Ferrari,” he told Italian media, before giving a fairly clear indication: “We’re risking the destruction of a legend, and I’m truly sorry about that. I hope they at least remove the prancing horse [logo].”
Why has there been such an outcry?
Ferrari did not just decide to make its first electric car: it also took the decision to make that car only its second four-door model, and the first with five seats. Rather than a low-slung, two-door variant of its petrol cars, it has effectively produced a roomy saloon.
Benedetto Vigna, Ferrari’s chief executive, has repeatedly said the car is aimed at being “polarising”, and that the company is hoping to appeal to people outside its core market (albeit still among the ultra-wealthy).
It is no coincidence that many of the strongest negative reactions to the Ferrari and Jaguar launches have come from those with right-wing leanings. Despite their rapidly increasing popularity across the world, opposition to electric vehicles has become common reactionary theme.
The British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover in 2024 suffered a similar backlash in 2024 to its relaunched electric Jaguar. It drew the ire of Tesla’s boss, Elon Musk, and the US president, Donald Trump – although demand has not been tested because it is not yet on sale.
Why does it look so different from other Ferraris?
Unlike traditional models with an engine in front or behind, electric cars tend to be built on top of a “skateboard” formed from the batteries, motors and wheels. For the Luce that has pushed the top of the car to just 4cm shy of Ferrari’s SUV, the Purosangue – and 40cm higher than its hybrid F80 sportscar.
The visual design of Ferraris – and of all sportscars – is dominated by aerodynamics. The Luce is no different. However, Ive’s design company, LoveFrom, has brought a minimalist, Apple-esque aesthetic that does not make immediately obvious the usual cues – think spoilers, fins and air vents. What at first glance appears to be a bonnet is in fact a wing hovering over a more raking front. The rear spoiler is similarly concealed within a flowing shape that departs from the aggressive angles of many of Ferrari’s rivals.
The skateboard has also allowed much more space in the back, without the need for a transmission tunnel running down the middle. That has allowed in a fifth seat: Ferrari now has a family car in its lineup.
Angus MacKenzie, international bureau chief at MotorTrend magazine, said the driving position in the car still feels like a sportscar, but otherwise “it is the shock of the new”. He added that the focus on tactile buttons and clever digital dials in the interior will prove influential, and even if the design breaks with the past, “what’s underneath is futureproof” for the company, opening the way to more EVs.
Why is it so difficult to make an electric supercar?
It has been done. The Croatian carmaker Rimac in 2018 revealed Nevera, an electric hypercar capable of 0 to 60mph in 1.74 seconds. The Chinese-owned British brand Lotus produces the rival Evija in Norfolk. But both cars have price tags of about £2m, and a relative dearth of rivals.
Electric technology changes the game for supercars in both good and bad ways. From a standing start, even middling EVs can blow away much more expensive petrol rivals because of efficient motors. But the trade-off is that batteries are big and heavy, which makes them harder to handle, and harder to squeeze into a smaller package.
“The horsepower war is over,” said MacKenzie. “The new holy grail will be lateral acceleration – whether you can make electric cars go round corners properly.”
Who will buy the car?
The main problem for electric sportscar sales has been finding people to buy the things. Even Mate Rimac, the founder of Rimac, ended up producing more combustion engine cars when he took over Bugatti, another storied Italian brand.
But Ferrari believes the Luce will find new buyers. Earlier this month Vigna told investors that “one of the cars we will launch this year is meant also to fit better the portfolio” for China – by far the world’s biggest market for electric cars.
The British company Everrati produces modified electric versions of Porsches, Land Rovers and the Ford GT40 racecar for the super-rich. Its co-chief executive, Rhodri Darch, said he believed that Ferrari would find buyers among, as he put it, reforming petrolheads, tech founders and lovers of quiet luxury.
Darch said Ferrari was “a brand that has a broader appeal than just sportscars”. With the Luce, Ferrari was expanding the market. “100% it will not be for everybody. And that’s OK.”