Unveiled in Rome on the 79th anniversary of Ferrari’s first race win, the Luce debuts as a 1,050 cv, four-motor EV with over 530 km range and more than 60 patents. Yet controversy centres on Jony Ive’s minimalist aesthetic for LoveFrom, whose smooth glass surfaces and tech-led cabin divide fans over whether this still feels like a true Ferrari or an ultra-luxury Apple product on wheels.
Ferrari has long built cars that divide opinion. The Luce, unveiled in Rome on May 26 on the 79th anniversary of the marque's first-ever race victory, has managed to do it before most people have even seen it in person.
The car is Ferrari's first fully electric production model, built on a bespoke platform with four electric engines, four doors, five seats, and a total power output of 1,050 CV. It goes 0–100 km/h in 2.5 seconds, has a range of over 530 km, and carries more than 60 new patents. It is also the most aerodynamically efficient road car Maranello has ever produced. None of the features people are arguing about on the internet, though.
What netizens are arguing about is the design — specifically, who did it and what it looks like.
Ferrari made an unusual call with the Luce. Instead of handing over the project to its own Design Studio, headed by Flavio Manzoni, the marque brought in Love From — the creative collective founded by Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newson. Ive is the man behind the iMac, the iPod, and the iPhone, whose design language is all about minimalism, materiality-led, and on the Luce, it is present right on the surface.
The exterior is defined by what Ferrari calls the glass house, i.e., a shell-like, uninterrupted form that extends below the belt line to the extremes of the car, kept smooth and continuous with no sharp edges, no creases, and no abrupt changes in surface. Floating aerodynamic wings at the front and rear handle downforce without interrupting that form. The lights are transparent, part of the primary surface, and recede into it entirely when switched off. The wheels are 23 inches at the front and 24 at the rear — the largest staggered fitment on any series-production Ferrari road car, available in a forged five-spoke or an aerodynamically optimised turbine design.
Inside, the steering wheel is machined from 100 per cent recycled aluminium. The key is made from Corning Gorilla Glass with an E Ink display — a world first in automotive — that only consumes energy when it changes state. Four custom OLED screens, developed exclusively with Samsung Display, handle all information across the cabin. There is no visible plastic. Materials are anodised aluminium, Gorilla Glass, and premium leather throughout. The control philosophy separates input from output clearly: physical buttons, dials, and toggles for driving, a touchscreen only for deeper settings like navigation and media.
This is precisely where the internet has taken issue. The criticism, which has been consistent since the interior was first revealed, centres on the idea that the Luce feels less like a Ferrari and more like a very expensive Apple product. The Honda comparison, which is now being circulated widely among designers and enthusiasts, is that the aesthetic language Ive brought to the Luce is so far removed from Maranello's emotional vocabulary that the Prancing Horse badge is doing a great deal of heavy lifting.
Prominent automotive designers have been particularly vocal, while automotive journalists have largely landed on the other side, arguing that the shift reflects Ferrari’s deliberate move towards a cleaner, more minimal design language under Jony Ive and LoveFrom’s influence.
What is harder to argue with is the engineering underneath all of it. The Luce runs four permanent magnet synchronous engines — one per wheel, derived directly from the F80 supercar — on an 800 V architecture. Total power is 1,050 cv. The 122 kWh battery, co-designed with SK On and assembled entirely in Maranello, supports peak discharge of 830 kW and fast charging up to 350 kW, replenishing 70 kWh in 20 minutes. Range exceeds 530 km. Kerb weight is 2,260 kg. The battery is integrated structurally into the floorpan, placing the centre of gravity 95 mm lower than the Purosangue and the yaw moment of inertia 15 per cent lower — which, in handling terms, makes the car behave as though it weighs approximately 400 kg less than it does. The car also introduces Ferrari's new Vehicle Control Unit, which integrates powertrain and vehicle dynamics under a single controller for the first time, updating actuation targets 200 times per second.
It is Ferrari's first car with four doors and five seats, its first with electric all-wheel drive, and the first with an elastically-mounted rear subframe. The sound is not synthesised — a precision accelerometer on the rear axle captures real vibrations from rotating components and amplifies them authentically, only in Performance mode.
Whether the Luce looks like the future of Ferrari or the undoing of something essential is a conversation that is clearly far from over. You might like the appearance, you might not. But do the features tempt you enough to make this your next pick? You decide.