Earlier this year, Ferrari changed the name of the EV that it was working on from Elettrica to Luce – from electricity to light. At the time, the company also revealed bits of its interior design, revealing that the one responsible is LoveFrom, the creative co-founded by Jony Ive. More recently, the Italian prancing horse has revealed what the car itself actually looks like.
To be clear, LoveFrom is handling the design of the Ferrari Luce in general, not just the interior. And while it does not look as iPhone- or iPad-like on the outside as it did on the inside, it looks quite distinctly… not Ferrari-like, to put it mildly. In fact, from the side, it looks like your average EV crossover, with that awkward height that suggests that an ordinary saloon / sedan had to be converted to an SUV because of the battery packs under the floor.
And it gets weirder in front, with a nose that looks more American muscle than Italian exotic. Unless I’m very off-base here, looking at the nose invokes the image of a Dodge Challenger or Charger, or even the Chevrolet Camaro. Similarly, the look at the back looks like a mashup of the tail of a Ferrari 360 and the nose of a Dodge Challenger. It’s arguable whether it looks fine or even good overall, but it definitely doesn’t evoke the thought of Ferrari at a glance.
Looks More American Muscle Than Italian Exotic
But what it does oddly with the exterior design, it makes up for in the sort of performance you’d expect from a car with that badge. The Ferrari Luce has a top speed of 310 km/h, a century sprint time of 2.5 seconds, and outputs a total of 1,050 cv (~772 kW) and 7,750 Nm, distributed over four motors – one for each wheel. This also allows each one to modulate power individually to adjust for low- or high-grip situations. In addition to that, Engadget also reports that it features four wheel steering for even more manoeuvrability.
Powering the car is a 122 kWh battery pack that provides a WLTP range of 329 miles (~529km), and charges at a rate of 350 kW. And for those who want some good old noise to come with their sports car, the Ferrari Luce doesn’t produce completely synthesised sound to fill the silence that EVs are known for. Instead, it amplifies the vibrations of the rear motors to produce a sound that, according to the report, “isn’t far off from some of the company’s high-strung V8s in the past”.
And as you’d expect, Ferrari has priced the Luce much like most of its petrol-powered siblings. More specifically, in its home market of Italy, it will have a starting price of EUR 550,000 (~RM2.5 million). It’s no LaFerrari, but then again, it’s clear even from the visual aesthetic.
